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• 1 media/Fr Wheatley detail 1932310.jpg 2019-11-28T07:29:29-08:00 Rev. James McNeal Wheatley, Thirteenth Rector of Trinity, 1932-1947 7 plain 2020-09-14T13:40:37-07:00 James McNeal Wheatley was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on 30 June 1896, the son of Samuel Thomas Wheatley and Mary Louise (Taylor). His father was an accountant, and both Wheatley and his brother Samuel were trained as bookkeepers. He married Winifred Marie Taylor on 15 July 1916, and the couple had two children, a son, James McNeal Jr., called "Mac," and a daughter Anne.
     
  Wheatley was raised as a member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Baltimore and served as a lay reader before getting the call to be a priest. Finding it difficult to go to seminary with a small family, he read for orders under the tuteladge of Bishop John Gardiner Murray, later Presiding Bishop, and Bishop Edward Helfenstein. He was ordained tot he diaconate in June 1928 and the priesthood the following December. Bishop Murray was a High Churchman and instilled in Wheatley a reverence for this liturgical style.
  
  Wheatley's first assignment after ordination was to be priest-in-charge of St. George's Church in Dundalk, Maryland. He remained there for three years until becoming curate of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Evanston, Illinois, where he took charge of the student chapel at Northwestern University. In November 1932, he received a call to the rectorate of Trinity at a salary of $2,800 per year.
  
  Upon his arrival Wheatley found the parish mired in debt of $58,000 and in danger of losing the church to Penn Mutual Life Insurance Comapny, which held the mortgage. He immediately went to work to reduce the interest rate on the loan and by early 1933, succeeded in forestalling the foreclosure crisis. The diocese felt the effects of the Depression, and Bishop Gray had been forced to go without a salary in order to meet expenses.
  
  Unlike his predecessor, Wheatley seemed determined to pay off the mortgage, agreeing to pay Penn Mutual an additional $100 per month in interest and reduce the principal on the loan. Many suffered difficult financial circumstances at the time and were unable to pledge to the church.
  
  In March 1933, the parish received a bequest from Clara Edgerton, who left Trinity $18,000 in a trust stipulating that it go to a hiring a deaconess for missionary work. After several years of legal petitions, Wheatley succeeded in getting the language of the trust changed, replacing "priest" for deaconess, but he was able to apply most of the income of the trust tot he payment of the mortgage.
  
  Wheatley was a strong pastor and well liked in the parish. His liturgical High Churchmanship aligned him closely with that of Bishop Campbell Gray. Early in his rectorate he worked parishioner John Wilding at drilling the corps of acolytes with military precision, forming what became known as St. Hugh's Guild and making them as accomplished as the corps at St. Luke's Evanston, his former parish. The musci program also underwent changes with the hiring of Eliza (Hanna) Elliott as organist and William R. Sur, a faculty member of North Side High School, as choirmaster. The boys' choir had diminished in size by this date, and by 1940 there were both senior and junior choirs with members of both sexes.
  
  Wheatley faced a major pastoral crises. One involved the suicide pact of the Kenneth Larwill family in Fort Wayne. After losing a daughter, Louise, to illness, the surviving family members resolved to die together by turning on the gas registers in the home. Kenneth, his wife Mary, and a daughter, also named Mary, all died, but another daughter, Louise, survived, having fallen in a bathroom where she received enough oxygen from a nearby window. The parish was shaken by their deaths, but Louise became very attached to both the rector and his wife.
  
  The Depression years were ones of great austerity for the parish. The women of the church prepared lunches for the public as a way of raising money. The building needed significant repair, including new boilers and major repairs to the spire, which had cracked because a carillon installed in 1920 was too heavy for the structure. In 1936, the shingles installed in the 1890s were replaced with copper sheathing. The entire spire was rebuilt at a cost of more than $2,000. Wheatley came up with the idea of selling mortgage bonds to members of the parish, which could raise additional funds and be redeemed at a later date.
  
  The financial adversity of the Depression years brought Wheatley and Bishop Gray increasingly together out of necessity, and Gray gave Wheatley more diocesan responsibility. He was given charge of arranging the Howe Conference at Howe Military School, who was initially a summer retreat for both adults and youth to take classes and build fellowship across the diocese. In 1939, Gray appointed Wheatley as archdeacon, which gave him oversight of all diocesan missions. It appeared to some that Wheatley was being groomed as Gray's possible successor. In this role he appealed to the diocese through the Every Member Canvass to think more broadly about stewardship and the needs of the whole diocese.
  
  Membership at Trinity grew throughout the Depression years, even if funds were in short supply. Attendance at the Easter services of 1939 exceeded 1,200 with over 600 communicants. The need for redecorating the church led a group of men of the parish to form what became known as the Holy Rollers, and together they painted the nave themselves.
  
  The outbreak of World War II led many men of the parish to enlist. An altar dedicated to their safety was placed under the Great Window at the rear of the nave. Wheatley held daily noon-day prayers and would often visit Baer Field to minister to soldiers on their way overseas. The parish house of the church was outfitted as a hospital, and parish women received training from the Red Cross to act as nurses in case the war should come to Fort Wayne. Then in 1944, the mortgage was finally burned and the parish was at last freed from debt.
  
  Bishop Gray died unexpectedly in 1944, and a special convocation to elect his successor resulted in a split decision. Wheatley received the support of the laity on thirteen consecutive ballots, but he failed to get sufficient votes from his fellow clergy. He was bitterly disappointed at the outcome and felt that the jealousy of his fellow priests had prevented in election. A second convocation resulted in the election of Reginald Mallett of Baltimore as the new bishop, and almost immediately, tension developed between the two men.
  
  During the war Wheatley had taken a job as accountant for several downtown theaters owned by parishioner Helen Quimby, widow of entrepreneur, Clyde Quimby. The job took him away from the parish during the week, and some members of the parish suspected him of having an affair with Quimby, which he vehemently denied. When new members were proposed for the vestry that year, Wheatley's son Mac decided to run, but this action precipitated additional anger in the parish, believing that Wheatley was promoting his son's candidacy.
  
  The matter came to a head at the Annual Meeting in January 1947, when a group of vestry members headed by Franklin Peddie demanded Wheatley's resignation. This action was countered by the rector's supporters, who denounced Peddie's actions. Bishop Mallett refused to intervene, and Wheatley reluctantly resigned, leaving the parish deeply divided. Mallett forced the appointment of the Rev. Peter Langendorff as priest-in-charge, but the senior warden, Harold Owen, a Wheatley supporter, refused to recognize the appointment. Langendorff, with Mallett's support, had Owen excommunicated.
  
  Wheatley became canonically resident of the Diocese of Quincy, Illinois, but he continued to live in Fort Wayne. He hoped to remain in the diocese in a different capacity, but Bishop Mallett refused to give him an assignment or altar. In 1951 he became rector of the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia, where he remained until 1958, when he became rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in St. Petersburg, Florida. He retired from the priesthood in 1951, and in 1963 wrote to Mallett's successor, Bishop Walter Conrad Klein, for an assignment, but was again refused. He spent his remaining years in Maryland, attending services at St. Peter's in Ellicott City and St. John's in Glyndon. He visited Fort Wayne to visit friends but was not allowed by Trinity's rector, George Wood, to attend services. He died in Fort Wayne on 27 January 1969 of a heart attack. At the time he owned property at 1225 Illsley Drive. His body was returned to Maryland for burial in St. John's Episcopal Church Cemetery in Reisterstown.
  
  Wheatley is considered a significant rector in Trinity's history and is best remembered for his leadership in saving the parish financially during the Depression. His grandson, National Security Advisor James Clapper, was baptized in the parish in 1941.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 1 2019-12-06T08:20:15-08:00 Chapels 5 plain 2020-01-27T07:21:28-08:00
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Blessed Sacrament Memorial Chapel
  
      The Blessed Sacrament Memorial Chapel, to the right of the rear entrance to the Common Room, was consecrated to the daily use of the Parish on Sunday, September 30, 1951. Open for meditation and rest, it also provided the setting for many years as a place for the daily celebration of the Holy Eucharist and for the recitation throughout the week of the morning and evening offices of the Episcopal Church. It is presently used for special Eucharist and Holy Unction healing services. Closely reproducing a seventeenth century Anglican oratory, the chapel was originally designed by the J. & R. Lamb Studios of Tenafly, New Jersey. In 1991, an electrical fire gutted the original walls, though some of the fixtures were rescued. At the behest of Trinity’s then-rector, the Rev. Frank H. Moss III, Fort Wayne architect John Shoaff redesigned the chapel, making burled walnut paneling the predominant feature and a columbarium with brass plaques behind the small free-standing altar. Ervan Orban, a local carpenter, Episcopalian, and musician, executed most of the carpentry work. Behind the wall are kept the ashes of some of Trinity’s faithful departed.
       A finely-modeled wooden figure of Our Lord, dressed in red and white and holding the golden Chalice of the Eucharist, stands near the window in the chapel, which is a fitting memorial to all the faithful departed of Trinity Church. Its origin is unknown.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
       The windows of the chapel contain four panels, all reflective of Jesus Christ as Healer. At the top left is Jesus healing a blind man (Mark 8: 22-25). At the top right is Jesus raising to live the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue leader of Capernaum (Luke 8: 40-56). The bottom two panels depict St. Luke the physician and scribe, writing his two books for the New Testament. At the bottom right, St. Luke heals a dying man. These panels were all designed and manufactured under the direction of City Glass of Fort Wayne in the 1990s.
  
  
      At the rear of the chapel is a niche with a small votive stand and a prie-dieu of wood and brass given in memory of Mary Catherine Angell (1813-1896) by her children. The wooden Christus Rex in front of the door leading into the chapel is original to it and, before the fire, was affixed behind the altar. The lectern was given in 1942 by Kay Thompson in memory of Ansel Thompson, while the missal stand was given the same year in memory of Joseph L. McClure.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Christ the King Chapel
  
       The Christ the King Chapel, located on the first floor of the Parish House, was originally designed specifically for and used by Trinity’s school children. Since its opening in 1956, it has served as a place where younger members could become accustomed to the traditional setting of Anglican worship in an atmosphere of dignity, beauty, and convenience, with fittings and appointments scaled to the smaller worshippers’ size. The pews rose only thirteen inches above the floor level, with an initial seating capacity for ninety children. Since 1956, the chapel has undergone repurposing. The pews are now gone, and the chapel now serves multiple purposes, not only for children but for adults in a variety of settings. Moveable chairs allow the room to be configured in a variety of ways.
       The chapel, considered “contemporary Gothic,” originally employed furnishings created by St. Christopher’s Workshop in Bremen, Indiana. The focal point of the chapel for many years was the imposing redwood Cross and figure of Christ the King, which rose against a background of colored marble imported from Verona, Italy. Studded with bronze rosettes, the reredos was fifteen feet in height and formed a striking setting for the Christ in Majesty, which was executed in hard pine by a southern Indiana woodcarver.
       The 1956 altar, crafted of Botticino marble, was of contemporary design. The centerpiece on the front, which was mounted on a wrought-iron grille, portrayed the pelican-in-her-piety, picking her breast to feed her young with her own blood - a symbol of the voluntary shedding of the Savior’s blood upon the Cross for our redemption, and of the Blessed Sacrament. Twelve bronze rays, representing the Holy Apostles, radiate from the centerpiece; close inspection will reveal a thirteenth ray, darkened and rusted, which symbolizes the traitor Judas, probably a unique commemoration. The candlesticks on the Altar employed three square rods to denote the Ever-blessed Trinity.
       This Trinitarian symbolism was repeated in the chancel furniture. The lectern and prayer desk, of wrought iron, were each decorated with three intertwining circles of bronze, while the credence table bore that most appropriate symbol of the Holy Spirit, the descending dove. All of these decorations were subject to change in 2019 with a redecoration of the chapel under consideration.
  
  
  
  
  
       The Chapel features four stained glass windows, brilliantly colored and executed by the George L. Payne Studios of Paterson, New Jersey. Each window depicts one of the four Evangelists - St. Matthew, donated by Hazel Rogers in memory of Hubert H. Rogers; St. Mark, donated in memory of Harry Evans by Mrs. Evans; St. Luke, donated by Vera Pruegger in memory of Frank and Mary Pruegger; and St. John, donated by Hazel Miller in memory of George A. and Mary Miller. Each saint is depicted with his traditional devices. St. Matthew appears with medallions of a winged man and an axe, the symbol of his martyrdom. St. Mark is shown as a winged lion and an oak leaf cluster with acorns. St. Luke appears with medallions of a winged ox and of a caduceus, symbolizing his role as a physician. St. John is shown with an eagle and a chalice, since he was almost poisoned with a chalice until the poison came out of it in the form of a snake. These windows in vivid hues are fine examples of sound continuity of theme and color, and with the opening of the church grounds to the west, they now capture more sunlight and can be enjoyed in their full glory.
  
  
       A fifth window may be found in the sacristy. It departs from the others in design, featuring in contemporary style a communion chalice in sharp, angular lines with a host, the beams of light radiating outward from it. The rest of the window consists of geometric squares and rectangles in red, turquoise, and cobalt blue.
       The organ in the chapel was constructed specifically for its use by the Wicks Organ Company. The small Baroque instrument has six stops and features a flute stop particularly adapted to accompanying young voices. The organ’s “key desk,” which takes the place of a console, is so designed that anyone who can play a piano has no difficulty in making a transition to the organ.  
  
  
  
      On the wall opposite the altar, directly under the organ pipes, is a small sculpture of the Madonna and Child by an unknown artist. It was presented in 1960 in memory of Jean Austin Williams by her daughter, Dr. Bernice Williams.