Gentle and Strong

50 Years of Ministry

By Suzanne Rumsey

HALF A CENTURY OF SERVICE— (left) Gavin Rumsey with his mother, Hirell Rumsey, on the day of his ordination to the priesthood, December 16, 1959. (right) Gavin Rumsey with daughter, Suzanne Rumsey, staff member with PWRDF, at the 50th anniversary service.

Gentle and strong… Bible scholars tell us that the Greek text lends itself to being translated: "Blessed are the gentle for they shall inherit the earth." Well, over the centuries the so-called strong ones, the super-bullies, have poured scorn on the idea that the gentle would inherit the earth. But you and I know something in such a time as this. You and I know something that the super-bullies will simply not accept: that if the gentle do not soon inherit the earth, there will be no earth to inherit. (Extract from the sermon given by Gavin Rumsey, December 28, 2008 at Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria)

A native son of the Diocese of Kootenay, the Reverend Gavin Rumsey celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the Diaconate at Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria on December 28; the Feast of the Holy Innocents. His wife Lois, and their children and grandchildren, who had gathered from Toronto, Edmonton, Victoria and Japan, were all present for the occasion when he preached at the Family Eucharist.

Gavin was ordained at Christ Church, Creston in 1958. After graduating from Creston High School, he entered the Bank of Commerce in Creston and worked at several banks throughout the province before entering the University of British Columbia in 1952. Upon graduation, he entered the Anglican Theological College at UBC.

Gavin began ordained ministry as a curate at All Saints, Vernon, BC. In 1961, he was appointed Vicar of Windermere, a five-point parish that included Invermere, Windermere, Edgewater, Spillimacheen and the Toby Creek Mineral King Mine. Adventures followed. In his unpublished memoirs Gavin describes meeting "a lady moose… while driving home on the mine road. The moose crossed the road, followed alongside the car, then turned to charge. The trusty Volkswagen outran the moose — thank goodness!"

In 1962 he married Lois Ford, a teacher in Ottawa. They had met five years earlier in Germany where Lois' father was a Canadian army chaplain and Gavin a member of the Canadian Officer's Training Corp. Their daughter Suzanne was born in Invermere in 1963. In 1965, Gavin was invited to join the team ministry in Trail/Rossland, with special responsibilities for Rossland. Under the diocesan leadership of Bishop Ted Scott, the Trail/Rossland team undertook some progressive liturgical experimenting that resulted in the publication of the Trail Liturgy. Mark was born in 1966 and in 1968 the family adopted Christina.

In 1970, the Rumsey family moved to Topeka, Kansas, where Gavin studied (family and marital) counseling in the Department of Religion and Psychiatry at the Menninger Foundation. Upon returning to Canada in 1971, he became the Rector of Christ Church, Cranbrook. Lois and Gavin’s youngest child, David, was born in 1973.

In 1981 Gavin became rector of St. Timothy’s, Edmonton, and in 1992 retired from full time ordained ministry in that Diocese. When Lois retired from the Edmonton Public Schools Archives and Museum in 1995, they moved to Saltspring Island. Since 1997, and their move to Victoria, Gavin has enjoyed being an Honourary Assistant at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria.

Throughout his rich and varied, gentle and strong ministry, Gavin offered gifts of compassion, wisdom and pastoral care to so many, both within the parishes where he ministered and to those from the wider community who came knocking at the rectory door. At the 50th anniversary celebration in Victoria, Dean Logan McMenimie paid tribute to Gavin: 50 years ago, the Anglican Church of Canada became a better place. 50 years ago we became the IMPROVED Anglican Church of Canada, wouldn’t you agree? Because 50 years ago today, our preacher, Gavin Rumsey was ordained. Indeed and Amen.