(From Knell Mortuary)Having received the Sacrament, the Rev. Steven Clark Wilson entered into eternal life on Monday, February 14, 2022, following a lengthy battle with cancer.
Born July 2, 1965, to Clark Lee and W Marie (Barr) Wilson, in Lebanon, Missouri, he wed Melinda A. Dunaway on September 29, 2001. They were blessed with two children, Ashleigh M C Norbury (husband Nicolas and son Wiley) of rural Carthage, and Gabriel S A Wilson of the home, all surviving.
He is also survived by a younger and much smarter brother Michael (Amy) of Lees Summit and sister Paula Lettington (Jeff) of Everett, Washington, in-laws Kara (Brett) Biggs of Rogers, Arkansas, Darren (Katie) Dunaway of Oronogo, and TC (Diann) Henderson of Grand Prairie, Texas, and numerous nephews and nieces, all surviving. While pastoral duties assured odd hours and busy holiday, time spent with family was the high point of his week.
He was a graduate of the Lebanon R-III school system, Drury University (BA, where he served as president of the Sigma Pi Fraternity), Missouri State University (MA) and the Yale Divinity School (MDiv). He studied extensively at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität (Heidelberg, Germany) as a Rotary International Peace Fellow, Goethe Institute (Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany), Hartford Seminary (Hartford, CT), St. George’s College (Jerusalem), US Department of Agriculture Graduate School (DC) and Missouri Southern State University (Joplin, MO), often saying he had been privileged to have the most expensive education money could buy.
He was ordained deacon in June 1994 at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City by Bishop John Buchanan of West Missouri, and priest in December 1994 at the National Cathedral in Washington DC by Bishop Peter Lee of Virginia and Archbishop Robin Eames of Armagh, Ireland. He served for five years as assistant rector of Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia, the parish church of George Washington and Robert E. Lee, and was called as rector of Grace Church, Carthage, the best job in The Episcopal Church, in March 1999.
Father Wilson was active in the ministries of The Episcopal Church and worldwide Anglican communion, serving on the boards of the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (secretary) and the Boone and Violet Porter Charitable Foundation (secretary), both focusing on health and education ministries in the Middle East, and as deputy to two General Conventions. In the Diocese of West Missouri, he was vice-president of the Diocesan Council, secretary of the Standing Committee, dean of the Southern Deanery, chair of the Commission on Ministry, Insurance Committee and Hispanic Ministry Committee, and unofficial caterer to innumerable clergy conferences. Despite persistent rumors to the contrary, he was never the diocesan exorcist, and might well have been scared silly had such an offer been extended.
During his time in Connecticut, he was a volunteer chaplain at the Long Lane School for Boys (Connecticut’s maximum security prison for underage offenders), and in Virginia as a weekly volunteer chaplain at the Pentagon, receiving a citation from the Secretary of the Navy for his service. He also served as a member of the staff of various Happening, Cursillo and KAIROS Prison weekend retreats over the years, and bizarrely was able to officiate at both the 200th anniversary reenactment of George Washington’s funeral and the last major Civil War veteran funeral, 150 years after Appomattox. He was the proud owner of the Ozarks’ original Krampus outfit, and is immortalized on the silver screen awkwardly dancing out his 8th grade heart with actress Marlo Thomas in “The Body Human: the Facts for Girls,” a 1980 after-school special.
Locally, he served as secretary of the boards of St. Luke’s Nursing Center, treasurer of the McCune Brooks Health Care Foundation, and member of the Mercy Hospital Carthage Board. He was one of the prime movers in constructing the infusion unit (at the time of his death he was still actively involved in efforts to fund and construct a hospital tornado shelter) at Mercy Hospital Carthage, renovating the salon and physical therapy rooms at St. Luke’s, constructing the Lafayette House Rose Cottage in Joplin (a transitional house for women/families moving beyond abuse into dignified independence), and creating Carthage R-IX’s dual-language program. Hospitals, churches and schools in the Philippines, Haiti, Gaza, Jordan, the West Bank and Nazareth were partially reconstructed through his fund-raising efforts.
During his tenure as rector, Grace Church defied all national trends, doubling in size while also lowering its average age, instituting a thriving Hispanic ministry, and completely restoring its historic building without borrowing a dime or holding a capital campaign. The parish planted a large Bible garden enjoyed by the community and written up in the Wall Street Journal, played host to the Maple Leaf Academy Pre-School and countless community events, and installed a new 1100 pipe custom-built organ. While money isn’t the measure of anything worth measuring, it was a point of pride to him that the parish ran surplus budgets every year but one of his tenure, while still donating tens of thousands of dollars annually to community needs, and that the endowment grew 2000% during his tenure. The Olde World Market, All Hallows’ festival, annual dinner theater, rich Holy Week observances and a full roster of Christian education for all ages are among the legacies he leaves the parish. He would ask to be remembered for the exotic dinners he loved to share with his parish, a willingness to be a fool for Christ on stage and off so long as it supported a worthy cause, a carefully cultivated gift for patience and refusal to allow fear of failure room in his decision-making toolbox, an encyclopedic knowledge of where to find the best pastry in any foreign city, a soaring tenor range, a profound passion for the text and characters of Scripture, and a great head of hair, rather for the many failings and flaws which were his daily challenge.
A solemn requiem eucharist will be celebrated at Grace Church, 820 Howard St., Carthage, Missouri, at 2 pm, Saturday, February 26, 2022, under the direction of Knell Mortuary. To no one’s surprise, there will be abundant incense. All baptized Christians regardless of denomination will be welcomed to join in the Holy Communion.
He was a graduate of the Lebanon R-III school system, Drury University (BA, where he served as president of the Sigma Pi Fraternity), Missouri State University (MA) and the Yale Divinity School (MDiv). He studied extensively at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität (Heidelberg, Germany) as a Rotary International Peace Fellow, Goethe Institute (Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany), Hartford Seminary (Hartford, CT), St. George’s College (Jerusalem), US Department of Agriculture Graduate School (DC) and Missouri Southern State University (Joplin, MO), often saying he had been privileged to have the most expensive education money could buy.
He was ordained deacon in June 1994 at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City by Bishop John Buchanan of West Missouri, and priest in December 1994 at the National Cathedral in Washington DC by Bishop Peter Lee of Virginia and Archbishop Robin Eames of Armagh, Ireland. He served for five years as assistant rector of Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia, the parish church of George Washington and Robert E. Lee, and was called as rector of Grace Church, Carthage, the best job in The Episcopal Church, in March 1999.
Father Wilson was active in the ministries of The Episcopal Church and worldwide Anglican communion, serving on the boards of the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (secretary) and the Boone and Violet Porter Charitable Foundation (secretary), both focusing on health and education ministries in the Middle East, and as deputy to two General Conventions. In the Diocese of West Missouri, he was vice-president of the Diocesan Council, secretary of the Standing Committee, dean of the Southern Deanery, chair of the Commission on Ministry, Insurance Committee and Hispanic Ministry Committee, and unofficial caterer to innumerable clergy conferences. Despite persistent rumors to the contrary, he was never the diocesan exorcist, and might well have been scared silly had such an offer been extended.
During his time in Connecticut, he was a volunteer chaplain at the Long Lane School for Boys (Connecticut’s maximum security prison for underage offenders), and in Virginia as a weekly volunteer chaplain at the Pentagon, receiving a citation from the Secretary of the Navy for his service. He also served as a member of the staff of various Happening, Cursillo and KAIROS Prison weekend retreats over the years, and bizarrely was able to officiate at both the 200th anniversary reenactment of George Washington’s funeral and the last major Civil War veteran funeral, 150 years after Appomattox. He was the proud owner of the Ozarks’ original Krampus outfit, and is immortalized on the silver screen awkwardly dancing out his 8th grade heart with actress Marlo Thomas in “The Body Human: the Facts for Girls,” a 1980 after-school special.
Locally, he served as secretary of the boards of St. Luke’s Nursing Center, treasurer of the McCune Brooks Health Care Foundation, and member of the Mercy Hospital Carthage Board. He was one of the prime movers in constructing the infusion unit (at the time of his death he was still actively involved in efforts to fund and construct a hospital tornado shelter) at Mercy Hospital Carthage, renovating the salon and physical therapy rooms at St. Luke’s, constructing the Lafayette House Rose Cottage in Joplin (a transitional house for women/families moving beyond abuse into dignified independence), and creating Carthage R-IX’s dual-language program. Hospitals, churches and schools in the Philippines, Haiti, Gaza, Jordan, the West Bank and Nazareth were partially reconstructed through his fund-raising efforts.
During his tenure as rector, Grace Church defied all national trends, doubling in size while also lowering its average age, instituting a thriving Hispanic ministry, and completely restoring its historic building without borrowing a dime or holding a capital campaign. The parish planted a large Bible garden enjoyed by the community and written up in the Wall Street Journal, played host to the Maple Leaf Academy Pre-School and countless community events, and installed a new 1100 pipe custom-built organ. While money isn’t the measure of anything worth measuring, it was a point of pride to him that the parish ran surplus budgets every year but one of his tenure, while still donating tens of thousands of dollars annually to community needs, and that the endowment grew 2000% during his tenure. The Olde World Market, All Hallows’ festival, annual dinner theater, rich Holy Week observances and a full roster of Christian education for all ages are among the legacies he leaves the parish. He would ask to be remembered for the exotic dinners he loved to share with his parish, a willingness to be a fool for Christ on stage and off so long as it supported a worthy cause, a carefully cultivated gift for patience and refusal to allow fear of failure room in his decision-making toolbox, an encyclopedic knowledge of where to find the best pastry in any foreign city, a soaring tenor range, a profound passion for the text and characters of Scripture, and a great head of hair, rather for the many failings and flaws which were his daily challenge.
A solemn requiem eucharist will be celebrated at Grace Church, 820 Howard St., Carthage, Missouri, at 2 pm, Saturday, February 26, 2022, under the direction of Knell Mortuary. To no one’s surprise, there will be abundant incense. All baptized Christians regardless of denomination will be welcomed to join in the Holy Communion.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Rev. Steven C. Wilson Scholarship Fund for the study of foreign and classical languages in care of Knell Mortuary. As one would expect, a fine spread of appetizers and desserts, some of them unusual, will follow interment in the Grace Church columbarium. Rest eternal grant to him, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him. May his soul, and the souls of all the departed, through the mercies of God rest in peace.
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