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Charles Radford Lawrence II was a longtime Church leader, social activist, and educator. From 1948 until his retirement in 1977, he worked at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York as professor of sociology and chairman of the Department of Sociology. His active involvement in the Church began in 1952 when he became the vestryman and senior warden for Saint Paul's in Spring Valley, New York. Sixteen years later, he became the first black senior warden for New York's historic Trinity Parish.

Lawrence served as a Deputy to General Convention from 1967 to 1985, attending eight conventions. In 1976, he became the first African American, and third lay person, elected President of the House of Deputies. Two of the most controversial changes in the Church in the 20th century, the ordination of women and the adoption of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, occurred during his presidency.

Throughout his work for the Church, Lawrence served on several committees, commissions, and boards. In 1973, he served as chairman of the House of Deputies' Special Committee on the Ordination of Women to the Priesthood and Episcopate. In 1976, he was the co-chairman of the Executive Council’s Special Advisory Committee on Church in Society. Additionally, Lawrence served on the Joint Commission on Ecumenical Relations and the General Board of Examining Chaplains. He was the recipient of honorary degrees from Virginia Theological Seminary, General Theological Seminary, and Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.

Lawrence’s deep concern for social justice and racial equality directed his academic and Church careers at home and abroad. He was a participant on the Anglican Consultative Council in England (1981) and in Nigeria (1984). In 1982 the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, of which he was a longtime member, awarded him the Episcopal Peace Award. He was an early advocate within The Episcopal Church for the end to South Africa's apartheid policies, and led the effort that resulted in the Church's 1985 vote to divest its portfolio of stock in firms continuing to work in South Africa.

Charles Lawrence married Margaret Morgan on June 5, 1938 and together they had three children. He II died in Pomona, NY, on April 3, 1986 at the age of 70.

Massey H. Shepherd, Jr. was born in Wilmington, North Carolina on March 14, 1913. He received his B.A. in 1932, and his M.A. in 1933, both from the University of South Carolina. In 1937 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and in 1941 his B.D. from the Berkeley Divinity School. Shepherd was ordained deacon on March 5, 1941, and priest on September 17, 1941.

From 1937 until 1940, Shepherd was an instructor at the University of Chicago, and from 1940 until 1954, he was professor of church history at the Episcopal Theological School (ETS). While at ETS, he served as an assistant at St. John's Church, Roxbury, Massachusetts. He frequently taught at the Graduate School of Theology of the University of the South, serving as director from 1952 until 1970.

From 1954 until 1981, when he retired, Shepherd was professor of liturgics at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. He was president of the American Church History Society in 1949, and president of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church from 1961 until 1974. Shepherd served on numerous worship and ecumenical boards and commissions, most notably the Standing Liturgical Commission from 1947 until 1976. Of his many publications, The Oxford American Prayer Book Commentary (1950) is one of the most important. He was a major architect of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.

Though he was born and raised in a racially segregated Southern state, Shepherd’s courtly manners and general humility in demeanor led him to demonstrate equanimity to all. Shepherd’s scholarship was recognized by his peers especially in the area of liturgics. His influence was wide owing to a prolific writing and speaking life. He preached at numerous congregations, diocesan conventions, clergy conferences, ordinations, and in the chapels of the seminaries where he taught. He wrote more than 80 books, innumerable chapters and articles, and published a great many prayers. He was one of the few American members of Christian churches to be invited to observe the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church in the 1960s.

Massey H. Shepherd, Jr. died in Sacramento, California on February 19, 1990, at the age of 76. His ashes were interred on Signal Mountain, Tennessee beside his beloved wife Gaby.

Samuel Bowman was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on May 21, 1800,and received his education at the Academy of Wilkes-Barre. He then pursued legal studies under the tutelage of Charles Chauncy of Philadelphia before turning to the ordained ministry. He was ordained priest 1824 and began his ministry at St. John’s Church in Pequea, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

In 1825, Bowman became rector of Trinity Church in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he met his first wife, Susan Sitgreaves. Together they would have a daughter, Ellen Ledlie Bowman (Vail). In 1827, Bowman accepted the invitation to serve as co-rector at St. James Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He became rector in 1830 and remained there until his death.

In 1843, Bowman received the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology from Hobart College. He was an active member of the Public School Board and Trustee and Secretary to the Board of Franklin and Marshall College. Bowman played a significant role in incorporating St. James’ Orphan Asylum in 1838; founding St. John’s, Lancaster, the pioneer free church of the Diocese of Pennsylvania in 1853; establishing the Yeates Institute, a preparatory school for boys; and establishing the Bishop Bowman Home in 1857. On May 28, 1858, he was consecrated Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania but served for only three years before his death on August 3, 1861.

John Robert Wright was born in Carbondale, Illinois on October 20, 1936. He spent his youth in that area before matriculating at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee in 1953. He was graduated with a B.A. in 1958, and began the study of medieval history at Emory University in Atlanta from which he received an M.A. in 1959. Wright entered General Theological Seminary (GTS) shortly thereafter where he earned his M.Div. degree before entering Oxford University on a Fulbright scholarship, where he was awarded a D.Phil. in 1967.

Wright was ordained a deacon in his home Diocese of Indianapolis on June 11, 1963 and made a priest on June 29, 1964. With notable exceptions, his ministry in the church has centered around scholarship and teaching in an academic tradition with specialization in church history. Wright’s historical scholarship informed, in a compelling and influential way, The Episcopal Church's participation in three major Anglican dialogues and consultations with ecumenical partners in the Lutheran (ELCA), Orthodox, and Roman Catholic churches. His leadership and theological contributions in these areas are strongly represented. Particular note must be made of his authorship of the covenant proposal, Called to Common Mission, and the crafting of full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Wright authored over a dozen books on medieval church history and ecumenism and nearly a hundred articles on topics ranging from the Book of Common Prayer, the nature and scope of ecclesiastical authority, the Eucharist and priesthood, Anglican tradition, and women in the ordained ministry. He exercised leadership as president of The Anglican Society and as a member of the Standing Commission on Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations. He served as Historiographer of The Episcopal Church from 2000 to 2012.

Wright died in his New York City home on January 12, 2022 at the age of 85.

Pamela Pauly Chinnis was born in Springfield, Missouri, and raised in Galena in a politically active family. A 1946 graduate of the College of William and Mary with a degree in psychology, she became the first woman to serve as president of its Society of Alumni and as national editor of The Mortar Board Quarterly.

After moving to Washington, D.C. in 1948, she joined the Church of the Epiphany and soon became deeply involved in parish, diocesan, and national leadership. An advocate for women’s rights, she broke barriers in the church, serving as her parish’s first female warden and holding numerous lay leadership positions at every level. She went on to preside over the 1976 Triennial Meeting of the Episcopal Church Women, serve as vice-president of Province III (1979–1985), sit on the Executive Council, and represent the church in the Anglican Consultative Council.

In 1991, Chinnis became the first female President of the House of Deputies in its 220-year history, serving three consecutive terms until 2000 after earlier terms as Vice-President. Widely respected for her inclusive leadership, strong advocacy for women’s ordination and under represented groups, and deep faith, she described herself as a feminist and occasionally drew controversy for her outspoken views.

She received several honorary doctorates from General Theological Seminary. With her former husband, Carter C. Chinnis Sr., she had two children, Ann and Cabell. She died on August 24, 2011, and was buried in Galena, Missouri.