IN MEMORIAM: William H. Peterson, Bexley Hall Dean Emeritus
With sadness we share the news that the Very Rev. William H. Petersen, PhD, DD, died June 5, 2025, at Rochester General Hospital with his wife and children present. Bexley Seabury is indebted to his years of visionary leadership which helped transform Bexley Hall Seminary.
Dr. Petersen was Dean of Bexley Hall from 1983-1996 and Professor of Ecclesiastical History until his retirement. He served on the dialogues that produced Called to Common Mission, which brought about full communion between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Episcopal Church and was essential in creating the partnership between Bexley Hall and Trinity Lutheran Seminary in 1999, establishing the most collaborative program of theological education between the ELCA and The Episcopal Church. This partnership re-established Bexley Hall in Ohio and helped plant the seeds for its eventual federation with Seabury-Western through which Bexley Seabury Seminary was born.
Dean Petersen taught ecclesiastical and ecumenical history, liturgics, and Christian Spirituality. He was President, North American Academy of Ecumenists and held membership in Societas Liturgica; International Anglican Liturgical Conference; Anglican-Lutheran International Commission; the Consultation on Common Texts; English Language Liturgical Conference [International] and was Founder and Convener of the Advent Project Seminar in the North American Academy of Liturgy. Dr. Petersen was recently a contributor to the Historical Society’s special journal focused on Prayer Book revision.
Click Here to Read the Full Obituary Published on the Episcopal New Service June 18, 2005.
Calling hours will be at Keenan Funeral Home, 7501 Pittsford-Palmyra Rd, Fairport NY, Sunday, June 22, 12-2 PM and a Requiem Eucharist will be on Thursday, June 26, at 2 PM at Christ Episcopal Church, 141 East Avenue, Rochester, the Rt. Rev. Kara Wagner Sherer (Seabury-Western Class of 2003) presiding. The service will be live streamed from Christ Church, Rochester, and subsequently will be available on the church’s YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/live/UttWyTCNDVk
From an obituary published by Dallas Morning News on Apr. 18, 2025.
We have begun a collection of your reflections, below. If you would like to contribute a remembrance, please send c/o Jonathan Silver, Director of Alumni Engagement, at alumni@bexleyseabury.edu.
Remembrances
The Very Rev. William H. Petersen, Ph.D. (1941 – 2025)
I have many fond memories of Bill as teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend. These are two of my favorites:
During the Fall Reading Days, Bill used to take us to St. Margaret's House in New Hartford, NY. He always invited an inspiring speaker and it introduced us to monastic rhythm and spirituality as well as being a chance for spiritual growth and community building. One year there was a new Sister-in-Charge. At our first meal there, she invited Bill to offer grace. He explained that they were the host and that we had no desire to upset their regular routines. She persisted, saying how honored they were to have a Seminary Dean there. Wouldn't he please offer the blessing. In his most solemn voice he did the full introduction (The Lord be with you. . . .), and after a brief pause prayed: "The Blesser be blessed. Amen." The sisters led grace for our remaining meals.
Just before I began my senior year, Bill and I were Deputies from the Diocese of Rochester to the 1991 General Convention. It was his first Convention as a Deputy and my third. We sat next to each other in the House of Deputies, which did much to forge our lasting friendship. About half way through the Convention, during a break, we were approached by an older priest from Wyoming whose deputation was seated two or three tables behind us. He said, with a fair amount of censure in his voice, "In my day, a Seminary Dean and a student would never have been as chummy as the two of you." Bill explained that the Diocesan practice was for experienced Deputies to sit next to new Deputies in order to answer questions and to help them deal with the process. The priest allowed that that made some sense. Bill then put his arm around my shoulders and said, "And I am so glad Dick is helping me."
The Rev'd Canon W. Richard Hamlin, Ph.D, Bexley Hall ’92, Board Emeritus Bexley Seabury
Bill Petersen was loved and respected whem we were there. I took several memorable classes from him. I am so sorry to hear of his death. I remember the way he always found an appropriate collect to begin classes. His extended Advent teaching and book have influenced my ministry. I wish I could have fit in the Dante class. So many classmates spoke glowingly about it. He had such a large crate of books he rolled to classes
The Rev. Kristen Dobyns, Bexley Hall ‘05 and the Rev. Dr. Keith Dobyns Bexley Hall ‘05
Bill Petersen is one of a handful of people from my young adult years who had an outsized influence on the person and priest that I became. He was the dean of Bexley Hall throughout my time as a student from 1986-1992, but that is simply a title and doesn’t begin to describe who he was for me as a priest, professor, and person.
First and foremost, Bill nurtured my love of liturgy and music which began in earnest in my undergraduate years at Kenyon College. Growing up in low church Ohio, I hadn’t been exposed to the Anglo-Catholic tradition until meeting Bill. While I do not, and never will, consider myself to be an Anglo-Catholic, his grounding in “good” Anglo-Catholicism helped me understand more deeply the need for mystery and awe in liturgy and the importance of planning and leading worship with care, always taking into consideration the context and setting.
I entered Colgate Rochester/Bexley/Crozer as a student in a new joint church music program with the Eastman School of Music immediately after graduating from Kenyon. When it became clear after the first year that this was not the right program for me, Bill encouraged me to remain at Bexley and to do a Master of Arts in Theology with a concentration in liturgy. He was the supervisor for my thesis on modeling baptismal ministry in the Eucharist.
In addition to all things liturgy, Bill taught me the value of all things ecumenical. I learned the practical side of this from my father (BH ’54) in his ministry, but it was cemented in me through my experience at CRDS/BH/CTS. Bill often spoke about avoiding the temptation of “Cuisinart ecumenism” in which bits and pieces of various denominations are mixed into an indistinguishable mush. Instead, he pushed for letting each tradition offer what it does best in worship and in ministry. He taught me how to be true to my Anglican/Episcopal background and to worship and work with those from other traditions—everything from historically Black denominations to Roman Catholics.
Ironically, it was the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, one denomination not represented at CRDS/BH/CTS, with which Bill had the most intimate connections and has had the most significant ecumenical ramifications in my own ministry. Bill was heavily involved in the Lutheran-Episcopal dialogues (LED) in the 1980’s and was a chief architect of the work leading to Called to Common Mission along with his ELCA colleague Walter Bouman of blessed memory.
Even though I didn’t know any Lutherans when I was a student, I heard much about the LED and took to heart Bill’s conviction that we had more in common with the ELCA than what separated us. That surely came from his grounding in the work of the 19th century Anglican theologian F. D. Maurice who is also one of my theological heroes.
When I had opportunities for collaboration with Lutherans in the Cleveland area in the early 2000’s, I embraced the opportunity because of all that I had learned from Bill. I’ve worked alongside Lutherans ever since in various ways, and I deeply appreciate the ways in which their theological, liturgical, and musical traditions complement those of the Episcopal Church.
Bill was there when I finally came to my senses in late 1988 and realized God was calling me to ordained ministry. He supported me throughout the ordination process in the Diocese of Rochester and encouraged the development of my leadership skills even though I was significantly younger than the other Episcopal students. When I was searching for a full-time job between my degrees and he needed administrative support, I spent a couple of months serving as “not his secretary” in the Bexley Hall office.
That last note shows that, in addition to his deep and abiding grounding in his faith, undergirding Bill’s life was a delightful sense of humor that helped all of us as students to not take ourselves or academics or the Church too seriously. That just might be the most important gift he gave me.
The Rev. Mary C. Carson, Bexley Hall ’92; Board Emeritus Bexley-Seabury
Bill was my Church History…oops, my “Church in History” professor at Nashotah House 76-79. We used to joke that you could miss 200 years if you dropped your pen in his class. Not only a brilliant scholar, he also was a wonderful pastor, confidant, and friend. Bill’s daughter, Daphne and my oldest, Katy were the same age. Bill was assisting at a parish outside of Milwaukee where, in partial payment for my sins, I had to conduct the children’s worship service since children were confined to the church school wing. I’d drive the girls home while Bill had to remain for coffee hour. One day on the way home to the House, the girls announced they didn’t want to go to that Church anymore because that church “didn’t like children”. We were so proud that our girls got it! Bill remained a friend long after my graduation and well into my ministry. I always looked forward to see him at the National Workshop on Christian Unity. May he rest in peace!
The Rev. Dr. William Bergmann
Bill was a wonderful colleague in so many academic and ecclesial liturgical groups. I described him to someone who had never met him as a wonderful scholar wrapped in a mantle of kindness. I remember his ongoing fascination (and determination) to restore the liturgical season of Advent to its longer origins of roughly 6 weeks - it was a project he was happy to explain to anyone who asked! Rest in peace good and faithful servant,
The Revd. Canon Lizette Larson-Miller, PhD, Professor of Liturgy and Sacramental Theology, Bexley Seabury-Seminary
I was a student of Fr. Peterson when he was on the faculty of Nashotah House. I graduated from Nashotah in 1985 and have fond memories of him. The last I heard from Fr. Peterson was in a letter he wrote to my graduating class for our 40th anniversary just a few weeks ago. May his soul rest in Peace and may Light Perpetual shine upon him. He was a good and faithful servant.
Fr. Walcott W Hunter, SSC
When I began my search for a seminary in the Summer of 2005, I was working full-time and would need to do so for a few more years while I was in seminary. I had an MAR, but my classes were from the 80's and 90's and other seminaries didn't allow credit for those classes since they were more than five years old. When I met with Bill to discuss my coming to Bexley Hall, he looked at my transcript and began to evaluate what credit I might receive for past courses. The answer was 38 credit hours. Then I said to him, "Other seminaries are saying the classes had been taken more than five years ago and therefore no credit could be given." Bill informed me that Bexley Hall allowed credits within seven years. Most of my classes were older than that and I reminded Bill because I wanted to make sure I didn't hear one thing that day only to have my hopes dashed later. Then Bill asked when I had graduated. "October 1999", I said. He did the math in his head. That was within the seven-year time frame. He then said, "We'll go with that date." I said, "That would be great if they'll do it." To which he replied, "I'm the they!"
A bit of a back story, I had been frustrated while completing my ministry project and thesis because it had delayed my graduation. Had everything went smoothly, even my graduation date would not have met the seven-year criteria. As I left Bill's office and walked across the campus of Trinity Lutheran Seminary, I broke down in tears as I realized that while I had been frustrated with the delays, God was already looking forward six years to this meeting with Bill.
Bill was an agent of God's grace to me, and I think that being that agent was a big part of who Bill was.
The Rev. Thomas J. Fehr, Bexley Hall Class of 2009
