WNC: Former Cathedral Deans

Alfred Harding (1909–1916)

Alfred Harding (1852-1923), rector of St. Paul’s K Street and a Cathedral Canon, was elected in 1909 to succeed the Right Rev. Henry Yates Satterlee, the founding bishop of the Diocese of Washington (1896–1908). Harding was de facto dean of the Cathedral from 1909 until 1916. According to Chapter Minutes, “The Committee moved, in view of the election of Canon Harding to be Bishop of Washington, that the Provisional Committee be discharged, and that all matters connected with the care and use of the grounds of Washington Cathedral and the proper maintenance of the property and the services, which would usually come under the supervision of the Bishop or Dean, be for the present referred to Canon Harding, the Bishop-elect.

George Carl Fitch Bratenahl (1916–1936)

In 1903, George C. F. Bratenahl (1862-1939) became rector of St. Alban’s Parish, Washington, and was created a canon of the Cathedral. In 1916, he was elected the Cathedral’s first active dean. As chairman of the Building Committee, Bratenahl oversaw construction of the foundations, crypt chapels, great crossing, great choir, St. Mary’s Chapel, and St. John’s Chapel. He played a decisive role in the Cathedral’s iconography, particularly the reredos. The altar with its screen expressed the central truth of his faith. His aim, through long years of study and planning, was “to make the Cathedral the interpreter of the one supreme sacrifice and of the hosts and of the redeemed.” Dean Bratenahl suffered a stroke in 1936, but declined to resign or accept emeritus status. The Chapter reluctantly declared the post vacant on technical grounds, paving the way for the appointment of a new dean.

Noble Cilley Powell (1937–1941)

Long associated with the College of Preachers, Noble Powell (1891–1968) had been rector of Emmanuel Church in Baltimore for a decade when he was elected concurrently warden of the College of Preachers and dean of the Cathedral in 1937. Powell, a native of Alabama, was graduated from the University of Virginia in 1917 and from the Virginia Theological Seminary in 1920. He returned to the University of Virginia where he served students for a decade as Chaplain and rector of St. Paul’s Memorial Church. Marked early in his career as an able administrator, he was nominated twice as bishop coadjutor before coming to Washington National Cathedral. In December 1940, he officiated at the State Funeral for Lord Lothian (Philip Kerr), Great Britain’s influential Ambassador to the United States. After just four years, Dean Powell accepted his election as bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of Maryland in May 1941 and resigned as dean two days before his consecration. He became the ninth Bishop of Maryland in 1943 and served until 1963.

ZeBarney Thorne Phillips (1941–1942)

A longtime member of the Cathedral Chapter, ZeBarney Phillips (1875–1942) was rector of The Church of the Epiphany in Washington He was elected Dean in 1941—a critical time for the nation and the church. As Chaplain of the United States Senate and president of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies to the General Convention, he forged a unique link between this Cathedral and the nation, and between the Cathedral and the Episcopal church at large. His sudden death in May 1942 (from an erroneously filled prescription) was followed a year later by the death of Bishop James E. Freeman, a devastating loss to the Cathedral in wartime Washington. Although his tenure as dean was short, Phillips’s intimate contacts with men and women throughout a long career brought a warm pastoral touch to the Cathedral. In addition, his professional music training as an organist led directly to the founding of the Cathedral Choral Society, the resident symphonic chorus of the Cathedral, whose inaugural concert on the day of Dean Phillips’s funeral in May 1942 became his requiem.

John Wallace Suter (1944–1950)

John Suter (1890–1977) was installed as the fifth dean of Washington Cathedral on All Saints Day, November 1, 1944, in the last grinding months of World War II. On November 8, he officiated at the full military honors funeral for Field Marshall Sir John Dill, chief of Britain’s Joint Staff Mission during the war. Prior to Suter’s appointment, he had a successful ministry at The Church of the Epiphany, one of the oldest parishes in New York City. During his career, Dean Suter made outstanding contributions to the field of church liturgy. He served as secretary of the Standing Liturgical Commission of the Episcopal Church and was also appointed by the Presiding Bishop as custodian of the Standard Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church. Among his many writings is a prayer known as the “Prayer for Quiet Confidence,” which is engraved on the wall opposite the Chapel of the Good Shepherd. In 1950, Dean Suter resigned to become a member of the faculty of St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, from which a future Dean of the Cathedral—John Thomas Walker—had only recently graduated.

Francis Bowes Sayre (1951–1978)

Born in the White House in 1915, the grandson of President Woodrow Wilson (who is interred in the Cathedral), Dean Francis Bowes Sayre was elected the chief administrative officer of Washington National Cathedral in January 1951 at the age of 36, the youngest dean ever to serve the Cathedral. He served as a Navy chaplain during World War II, was assistant rector of Christ Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and rector of St. Paul’s Church in Cleveland, Ohio, before coming to the Cathedral. As its iconographer, he invited the public to submit ideas for gargoyles, 12 of which were eventually carved in stone. His then-controversial decision to build the central Gloria in Excelsis tower before completing the nave was an insight that may well have made possible the completion of the Cathedral before the end of the century. An outstanding preacher, Dean Sayre spoke in his sermons of the mission of the Cathedral. “Cathedrals do not belong to a single generation,” he once said. “They are churches of history. They gather up the faith of a whole people and proclaim the goodly Providence which has welded that people together as they have hoped and suffered and believed across the centuries.”

John Thomas Walker (1978–1989)

Dean Sayre called John Thomas Walker (1925-1989) to Washington as canon missioner for the Cathedral in 1966. In this role, Walker worked hard to forge connections between the Cathedral and the city of Washington. He was elected suffragan bishop of Washington in 1971 and bishop coadjutor in 1976. When he succeeded the Rt. Rev. William F. Creighton in 1977, Walker became Washington’s first black diocesan bishop and the second black diocesan bishop in the Episcopal Church. Francis Sayre resigned as dean concurrently with incoming Bishop John Thomas Walker’s announced plan to consolidate the authority of bishop and dean in the person of the bishop of Washington so as to have a more direct hand in the Cathedral’s affairs and direction. At the time, the Cathedral was in the midst of a grave financial crisis, with both its construction and program outreach in jeopardy. Dean Walker was gradually able to return the finances of the Cathedral to a solid footing that enabled both its construction and programmatic life to continue on a pay-as-you-go basis. The Cathedral’s 1990 completion is widely attributed to Dean Walker’s vision, although he did not live to see it. He died on September 29, 1989, exactly one year before its consecration.

Nathan Dwight Baxter (1992–2003)

A third generation clergyman, Nathan Baxter (b. 1948) was elected eighth dean of Washington National Cathedral in November 1991. Before becoming dean of the Cathedral, he served as the administrative dean and associate professor of Pastoral Theology at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A 1976 graduate of Lancaster Theological Seminary with honors and prizes in homiletics and theology, he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from that Seminary in 1984. He was a Charles E. Merrill Fellow at Harvard Divinity School in 1998. Among his publications is Comfort & Challenge: A Pastor’s Thoughts for a Troubled Nation, released in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Dean Baxter officiated at the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance Presidential Prayer Service broadcast worldwide live from the Cathedral on September 14, 2001, as well as the 1997 and 2001 Presidential Inaugural Prayer Services. During his twelve years as dean he also officiated at funerals and memorial services for many distinguished Americans, among them Supreme Court Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall, Admiral Jeremy Boorda, CNO; Hon. Ron Brown, Secretary of Commerce; Hon. Pamela Churchill Harriman, Ambassador to France; J. Carter Brown, Director Emeritus of the National Gallery of Art; Katharine Graham, publisher of the Washington Post, and the Crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia. In 2006 Baxter was elected Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania.