Frederick F Reese

Life

Frederick Focke Reese was born in Baltimore, Maryland on October 23, 1854. He graduated from the University of Maryland and Berkeley Theological Seminary before his ordination to the priesthood in 1877. He served as an Episcopal priest in Baltimore, Virginia and for Christ Church in Macon, Georgia before becoming the Rector of Christ Church, Nashville.

In February 1908 the Diocese of Georgia met in convention in Augusta to elect Reese as the fourth Bishop of Georgia and the first after the diocese was split into the Dioceses of Georgia and of Atlanta in 1907. He was consecrated in Christ Church, Savannah on May 20, 1908.

That spring of 1908, poor health caused the newly elected bishop to take an extended leave of absence, resuming ecclesiastical duties April 1, 1909. During his tenure as Bishop, the missionary work of the Diocese concerned the creation of new missions for blacks. By 1913, there were two predominantly black parishes in the Diocese, St. Athanasius Church, Brunswick and St. Stephen's, Savannah, as well as thirteen predominantly black missions.

On the twentieth anniversary of his consecration, at the convention in 1928, Reese asked about disappearing communicants noting the 5,290 person he had confirmed in 20 years. He said,

Are we so unconcerned or so powerless that we can do nothing?...We must be aggressively, though wisely, on the offensive.

He went on to encourage lay persons to a "lay ministry of personal evangelism." In the year of his retirement, 1934, the Diocese had its highest number of confirmations to date at 319. He died in Savannah on December 22, 1936.

The Episcopal camp on Saint Simons Island was named in his honor. After that was sold and the camp and conference center was moved to its current location on Honey Creek in Camden County, the dining hall at that new facility was named the Reese Dining Hall for Reese.

He was succeeded by Middleton S. Barnwell as Bishop of Georgia.