Memorial Service for Rev. William Whitehead
by Rt. Rev. Elmo C. Acton
Type of Event: Memorial Service
Date Recorded: 30 Aug, 1973
Location: Bryn Athyn Cathedral
Topics: Memorial Services 
Bishop Elmo C. Acton officiating. Doctor William Whitehead, 1883-1973. Born in England in 1883, William Whitehead became a Methodist minister and was assigned to a home mission circuit in Canada. In Dorset he met Mr. and Mrs. Robert Caldwell Sr. and Miss Venita Pendleton, who introduced him to the book "The True Christian Religion" by Emanuel Swedenborg. When he had thoughtfully and carefully read the work, he wrote in the fly leaf, "If the Christian Doctrine be not a Beautiful Fable and a Clever Dream, then this, and this only, can be its true account." He came to Bryn Athyn in 1907 and was baptized into the New Church. While studying for the ministry, he was asked to teach a course in history as a temporary measure -- fulfilling his temporary assignment some fifty years later. He was inaugurated into the second degree of the priesthood in 1926, and did pastoral work in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, and other societies. Through his teaching, Dr. Whitehead influenced for good generations of New Churchmen who recall, along with the things of real worth received from him, his clever witticisms. The literature of the New Church is full of his papers, addresses and sermons. He was editor of the Journal of Education and the Sons of the Academy Bulletin, was a founder of the Sons, served as Secretary of the Council of the Clergy, the Joint Council, and in many other capacities. (Memorial service recording 44 minutes)
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