Archibald Donald Davies (April 15, 1920 – October 16, 2011) was an American

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

bishop. A native of

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, he became the fourth

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

and subsequently the first Episcopal bishop of

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

. Davies was also a founder of the Evangelical and Catholic Mission, and later founded the

Episcopal Missionary Church The Episcopal Missionary Church (EMC) is a Continuing Anglican church body in the United States and a member of the Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas. Its founding in the early 1990s can be traced to the protests of members of The ...

, after which he became

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

and

Primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

of the

Christian Episcopal Church The Christian Episcopal Church (XnEC) is a Continuing Anglican jurisdiction consisting of parishes in Canada and the United States and with oversight of several parishes in the Cayman Islands. Its bishops are in apostolic succession through the R ...

(XnEC).

Formative years

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 15, 1920, Davies was a son of Archibald Davies, a designer of blast furnaces for that city's active steel industry. During the mid-1930s, Davies met his future wife, Mabel Myrtle Roberts (1920-2010) while they were both tenth grade students. They were subsequently married on Christmas Day in 1939.

Education

Davies graduated from the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...

in 1944, and earned his master's degree three years later from the Western Theological Seminary, a Presbyterian seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, now Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

Seabury-Western Theological Seminary Seabury-Western Theological Seminary (SWTS) was a seminary of the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, located in Evanston, Illinois. It ceased operations as a residential seminary granting the Master of Divinity degree in May 201 ...

). He then also earned a Doctor of Divinity degree.

Teaching career and religious life

Davies joined the faculties of Huron College and the University of Tulsa, teaching philosophy and religion to students there while also fulfilling the requirements toward obtaining his Doctor of Divinity degree. Ordained to the diaconate at the

Episcopal Diocese of Kansas The Episcopal Diocese of Kansas, established in 1859, is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America with jurisdiction over eastern Kansas. It is in Province 7 and its cathedral, Grace Cathedral, is in Topeka, as are the ...

by Bishop Goodrich Fenner in 1950, Davies then served as deacon-in-charge for one year before becoming rector. Chair of the Department of Christian Education, he also served on the Executive Council and Standing Committee. Two years later, he was appointed rector at St. Paul's in

Manhattan, Kansas Manhattan is a city and county seat of Riley County, Kansas, United States, although the city extends into Pottawatomie County. It is located in northeastern Kansas at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. As of the 2020 cen ...

; in addition, he spent three years as the campus chaplain for

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

. He was then also appointed as a chaplain in the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed F ...

in 1954. From 1954 to 1958, he was employed by New York City's Episcopal Church Center, where he developed a teaching series for the church. Appointed as rector of Grace Church in

Monroe, Louisiana Monroe (historically french: Poste-du-Ouachita) is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and parish seat of Ouachita Parish. With a 2020 census-tabulated population of 47,702, it is the principal city of the Monroe metropolita ...

in 1958, he remained there for four years, during which time he was also appointed as a Fellow of the College of Preachers at Washington Cathedral. An active duty chaplain at

Fort Hood Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. Named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, it is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. The post is the headquarters ...

in Texas from 1962 to 1964, he then was appointed as professor and sub-dean at Seabury-Western. Appointed dean of Trinity Cathedral in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

in 1968, Davies began his study of the life of

Alexander Charles Garrett Alexander Charles Garrett (November 4, 1832 — February 18, 1924) was a bishop of The Episcopal Church in the United States. Biography Born in Ballymote, County Sligo, Ireland, he graduated from Trinity College, Dublin with a Bachelor of Arts ...

, the first bishop of the

Episcopal Diocese of Dallas The Episcopal Diocese of Dallas is a diocese of the Episcopal Church (United States) which was formed on December 20, 1895, when the Missionary District of Northern Texas was granted diocesan status at the denomination's General Convention the ...

. Elected as the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas in March 1970, in response to the sudden death of Avery Mason who had died suddenly while holding that position, Davies was subsequently ordained as the bishop for Dallas on June 22, 1970, the fourth man to hold that post. When the Diocese of Dallas opted to form a new western diocese in November 1982, Davies chose to become the bishop for this new diocese — The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth — a post he continued to hold until his 1985 retirement. In 2005, Davies was preceded in death by his 54-year-old son, Allan David Davies, who died on May 22 in Granbury, Texas. He was then widowed by his wife, Mabel, on June 19, 2010; she was subsequently buried at the Acton Cemetery in Acton, Texas. They had been married for nearly 70 years.

Death and interment

Davies died on October 16, 2011, at the age of 91. A Requiem was held at 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 21, 2011 at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Granbury, Texas. Davies was then interred beside his wife at the Acton Cemetery in Acton, Texas. He was survived by four other children, ten grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.Iker, "Forth Worth: Bishop Archibald Donald Davies Dies," VirtueOnline.

References

External links

*
Bishop Archibald Donald Davies
(online memorial). Salt Lake City: Find A Grave, retrieved online September 17, 2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Donald 1920 births 2011 deaths American Continuing Anglican bishops Religious leaders from Pittsburgh University of Tulsa alumni People from Granbury, Texas 20th-century American Episcopalians Bishops of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe Episcopal bishops of Dallas Episcopal bishops of Fort Worth