Northern California Elects Coadjutor
Episcopal News Service. April 26, 1978 [78122]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- It took a while, but the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California has chosen a successor to the bishop who has led the diocese for nearly 20 years.
The Rev. John Lester Thompson III, rector of Christ Church in Eureka, Calif., received the necessary majority in both the clerical and lay orders on the 22nd ballot. He will be consecrated bishop coadjutor and will succeed the Rt. Rev. Clarence R. Haden Jr. when he retires in the fall.
Fr. Thompson, who has been rector of the largest church in the diocese for 18 years, was nominated from the floor of the convention which had to be held in two sessions to complete the election. The convention began April 1 and adjourned after nearly one dozen unsuccessful ballots. They reconvened April 22 to finally choose Fr. Thompson.
A native of Ohio and a graduate of Youngstown College, Fr. Thompson received his theological degree from the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Mass. in 1951. He served parishes in Ohio and Oregon before moving to his present cure in 1960. He has served as rural dean and a member of the executive council of the diocese.
The bishop-elect, 52, is a Shakespeare buff and is married and the father of two children.
Bishop Haden was Dean of Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City, Mo., and a member of the national Executive Council when he was elected Bishop Coadjutor of Northern California in 1957. He succeeded as diocesan bishop the following year. He is a native of Texas and a graduate of Baylor University and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary.