The Right Rev. John B. Coburn
BORN: September 27, 1914
DIED: August 8, 2009
LOCATION: Bedford, Mass.
SERVICE: Friday August 14, 3:00 p.m., St. Anne's In-the-Fields Church, 147 Concord Rd., Rte. 126, Lincoln, MA 01773

John Bowen Coburn died August 8, 2009 in Bedford, Massachusetts. Born September 27, 1914, in Danbury, Connecticut, he graduated from Wooster School in Danbury, an Episcopal independent school founded by his father, and proceeded to Princeton University where he majored in politics, played on the lacrosse team, and captained the 150-pound team graduating in 1936.

He taught biology at Robert College in Istanbul, Turkey for three years, where he met Ruth Alvord Barnum. They married in 1941 after their return to New York City where he was a student on the staff of Grace Church, New York City, and then joined the United States Navy serving as a chaplain aboard a destroyer escort in the Pacific.

After the war he began a distinguished career in the Episcopal Church, first as Rector of Grace Church in Amherst, Massachusetts, a position in which he also served as Chaplain at Amherst College, establishing and coaching the first lacrosse team at the college. From 1953 - 1957 he served as Dean of the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Newark, New Jersey. In 1956 he was co-founder with James Pike, of the Chapel of Saint James the Fisherman in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. In 1958 he was elected Dean of the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, guiding that school for more than a decade through much expansion and the entry of the school's first women students. After a year teaching English in a Street Academy in Harlem, he became Rector of Saint James' Church, Madison Avenue, New York City where he served from 1969 - 1976.

From 1967 to 1976 he served as President of the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church, in which position he guided the church through very difficult controversies concerning issues of race and social justice, the adoption of a new Book of Common Prayer, and the ordination of women to the priesthood. He was widely regarded as a trustworthy reconciler who could bring people of very divergent points of view together for the sake of the Church.

In 1976 he was elected Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and served in that position for ten years. He received honorary degrees from a dozen universities including Harvard, the University of Kent in Canterbury, and Princeton University, on whose Board of Trustees he served for twenty years. In retirement he lived in Boston, Brewster, Massachusetts, and, for the last twelve years of his life at Carlton Willard Village in Bedford, Massachusetts.

He was the author of a dozen books, including Prayer and Personal Religion, a seminal book on spirituality first published in 1953 and recently re-issued, Feeding Fire, a collection of his poems, and Anne and the Sand Dobbies, a story about death for children and their parents.

A service of thanksgiving will be held Saturday, October 3, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. at St. Paul's Cathedral, 138 Tremont St. Boston, Mass. 617-482-5800. Interment will be private at the Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. Gifts in his name may be made to Saint Stephen's Youth Programs, 419 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, MA 02118

Bishop Coburn was predeceased by his wife, Ruth, in 2002, and by a daughter Cynthia Anne, in 1956. Bishop Coburn is survived by Thomas B. Coburn of Warren, Rhode Island, Judith Coburn Klein of Truro, Massachusetts, Michael C. Coburn of Providence, Rhode Island and Sarah Coburn Borgeson of Sherborn, Massachusetts as well as nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren.