Name William Gordon Role Bishop of Alaska | Died 1994 | |
William Jones Gordon Jr., bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska from 1948 to 1974, was known as the "Flying Bishop of Alaska" for his ministry of flying his own plane across the vast diocese.
Gordon, born in 1918 in North Carolina, was a priest's son and attended Virginia Theological Seminary. Invited to Alaska by Bishop John B. Bentley in 1943, he served five years as missionary-in-charge on the Arctic Coast. Gordon was consecrated bishop of Alaska on 18 May 1948 in the Church of the Good Shepherd, Raleigh, North Carolina by 13 bishops of the Episcopal Church of the USA - among them was his predecessor, Bishop Bentley, Bishop Edwin A. Penick of North Carolina and Presiding Bishop Henry Knox Sherrill who served as chief consecrator. He retired in 1974 and later served as assistant bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan. Gordon died in Midland, Michigan, in 1994.
In order to continue Gordon's ministry, the Diocese of Alaska founded the Wings of the Spirit Transportation Endowment in 1992 as a non-profit corporation.