Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana Archives

Rev. Virgil Pierce Stewart

The Rev. (John) Virgil Pierce Stewart was born in Sterling, Kansas, on 17 May 1907, the son of Clinton Pierce and Myrtle (Fowler) Stewart. His educational background in unknown. He had a connection with Elkhart, Indiana, for he had married his first wife, Anna Madge Robertson (an Elkhart native), in St. John's Church on 15 June 1935. Two years later in 1937, he arrived from Kansas as St. John's rector. From 1937 to 1939 he also served as vicar of St. John's Church in Bristol.  Anna died of septicemia on 10 May 1939 at age 24. Stewart married his second wife, Martha Virginia Cawley, in St. John's on 23 December 1942 with Bishop Campbell Gray presiding. In 1943, he volunteered as a chaplain for the Naval Reserves, taking at first a leave of absence and then resigning the post. After the war he was transferred to the Diocese of Milwaukee. At some point he appears to have left the Episcopal Church for the Catholic Church. He died in Chicago on 29 November 1967 and was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Evanston, with the funeral celebrated in the Cathedral of the Holy Name.


 

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