Canon West’s Departure

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Although there’s almost no one at St. Mark’s left who remembers these events, the end of Canon West’s tenure here resulted in a schism that fractured the church.  As Rector of St. Mark’s for 10 years – from July 29, 1951 until October 24, 1961 – Canon West presided over the crazy growth of the parish through the 1950’s. This inspirational, exciting time was full of both blessings and challenges. It was all overshadowed by the events of his departure in 1961.

Remembered by pretty much everyone as a stickler for detail and as someone who liked to be in control, Canon West was very involved in every aspect of Parish Life. Before he became a minister, he had been an executive with the John Wanamaker Company in New York – and so he tended to a leadership style that was similar to a very top-down CEO. Some people liked this. Others did not. The bottom line, though, was his style of leadership was very successful during a time of rapid growth. It took a strong hand to manage the constant change, exponential addition of new members, endless financial challenges, and the construction of an entire campus of buildings.

One interesting facet of Canon West’s personality was his passionate love of music and liturgy. His mother was a noted diva and sang with the Schola Cantorum. He studied voice with her and later took great pride in leading the children and youth choirs at St. Mark’s and also in creating the Boar’s Head dinner. Anna Klay and Judy Garcia (who participated in programs like the children’s choir) remembered that if you whispered and didn’t pay attention, you got a stern look from Canon West that froze you in your tracks. They said that most of the children and teens in the parish – and a lot of the adults – were pretty intimidated by him. No one remembers him as a warm and fuzzy kind of person.

The Women’s Auxiliary, though, were not intimidated by him. More than a few of the people we’ve interviewed noted that the women who ran the Auxiliary were a strong crew.  Today these women would be running companies. Back then, their charitable work was their career. As the group that sponsored, funded, and ran many of the programs in the church (from Sunday School to Altar Guild and more), they had a lot of power…and they no doubt knew it. The Vestry minutes indicate there was a subtle struggle with Canon West over the years about control of program and especially about money. He wanted more oversight and their funds to be part of the operational budget, and they mostly refused to give it. But since the church was so dependent on their work and the money they raised, alienating the Women’s Auxiliary was a dangerous game.

Despite the various challenges, things went smoothly for Canon West at St. Mark’s for many years. Eventually, though, a series of unsettling events changed everything. Canon West’s wife had died in 1942 while giving birth to his only son, Teddy. His mother, Martha Ellison West, lived with him and cared for Teddy from 1942 until her death in 1956. West was devastated by her death and perhaps the loss of her guidance and support.

In 1958, James Pike was elected Bishop of California. Canon West disagreed with Bishop Pike on many issues, and they clashed several times in both public and private ways. In 1961, the entire St. Mark’s delegation walked out of the Diocesan Convention in protest over assessment policies. Privately, Canon West was very disturbed by Pike’s thoughts on the “historical Jesus” and was apparently especially upset by his fear that Bishop Pike was moving away from traditional Christian doctrinal beliefs. He felt these “radical” ideas were dangerous for the future of the church. In many ways, clashes like this were a harbinger of similar clashes to come on a local and national level across the United States during the 1960’s.

By 1961, Canon West had also communicated to many his strong aversion to rummage sales. People were perplexed by this. The rummage sales were the main fund raiser for the Women’s Auxiliary. They took a lot of time and energy but raised a lot of money. Later events show Canon West resented his lack of control over the group. For example, the Vestry minutes of September, 1961, note that the Women’s Auxiliary informed the Vestry that they would not turn over the proceeds from the annual rummage sale since they planned to use them at a future time for expansion of the Fireside Room and Kitchen facilities. A vestry member was delegated to work with the Women’s Auxiliary around this issue. It all sounds very cordial in the minutes, but this was a recurring situation – and this September conflict seemed to push West over the edge.

A month after this exchange, on October 13, 1961, Canon West called a special meeting with the Vestry and resigned. When pressed, he only said that he felt he had contributed everything he could to St. Mark’s during his 10 years and it was time for him to leave. A “substantial” majority of the Vestry voted to accept his resignation. The following Sunday he announced his decision to the entire parish during Sunday services…and this is when things got really crazy!

Church news was widely covered in the newspapers at this time, so we get a few more details about what was actually going on. The Palo Alto Times wrote that Canon West said in a recent sermon that:

“…the start of fall Sunday School classes should not have been delayed two weeks to permit use of church buildings for the annual rummage sale. He said protests of his attitude toward the rummage sale led him to submit his resignation. The rector said he believed the rummage sale and other such fund-raising activities had become an excuse for less than full participation by some members in tithing, the pledging of a certain percentage of family income for support of the parish. Canon West said the Vestry in the past had had to appeal to organizers of the rummage sale for financial assistance. He added that he thinks the welfare of the parish should not be dependent upon such help, but should be assured by pledges.” (Palo Alto Times)

On October 18, 1961, the Vestry met without Canon West. In the middle of the “formal” meeting, the Vestry temporarily adjourned to speak with four unnamed “male” members of the congregation. These four explained they were there to question the Vestry about their acceptance of Canon West’s resignation.  There was a prolonged discussion, the anonymous gentlemen left, and the Vestry meeting was called back to order. The Vestry were apparently unmoved by the discussion and voted to stick with their decision to accept West’s resignation. In fact, they moved on and voted to give Canon West a thank you gift of $150 per year for his service ($1500 in total). Mrs. Kenyon, the current head of the Women’s Auxiliary, graciously and somewhat ironically, offered that the Women’s Auxiliary would underwrite $500 of the gift (presumably using funds from the rummage sale)!

Over the next week a large faction of friends and supporters within the parish rallied around Canon West and lobbied the Vestry to make changes in the parish organization that would please West. They asked the Vestry to rescind the resignation and see if Canon West could be encouraged to stay.

It’s not hard to imagine what this was like. Everyone was talking about the situation. People were taking sides. Both pro and con Canon West factions formed. Pat Jenkins remembered that during this time as she drove into the parking lot, someone tapped on her car window and asked her to roll it down. They then tried to lobby her to sign a petition to save Canon West while lecturing her on the situation. She was a new parishioner at that time and said the whole situation was very baffling and confusing.

After two weeks of what were described as “spirited” discussions, the Vestry called a parish-wide meeting in the main sanctuary on October 25, 1961. Everyone was invited to attend (over 300 people did) and the Diocesan Chancellor presided. Sadly, there is no recording of this meeting, but there are a few quotes in an article from the Palo Alto Times that provide a clear picture of just how contentious this meeting was.

Canon West made a short statement at the beginning of the meeting and explained that it was essentially an open Vestry meeting. He said now was the time for the congregation to make their views known, and then the Vestry would deliberate and let the congregation know if they accepted or rejected the resignation. He hoped the meeting would decide what was best for St. Mark’s. Canon West left and Dean Graham, the Diocesan Chancellor, presided.

Next it was parishioners turn to speak. Those who remembered the meeting said it was very upsetting. Speakers both pro and con stood and passionately made their case. People shouted at each other.  It was extremely emotional and wrenching for everyone. Again, a Palo Alto Times article provides a few quotes:

“Why out of a clear blue sky did Canon West resign?” asked Phil Schwartz of Garland Drive, Palo Alto

Palo Alto Times

“I asked him,” said Velma Frampton of Magdalena Avenue, Los Altos. “He said that he had felt a lack of help within the parish…he is not getting physically and financially the support from the parish he needs.”

Palo Alto Times

The Vestry read a letter from Canon West that said that he would stay on until January 1962 if certain conditions were met, including that “…the church women…maintain a courteous and dignified attitude toward the Rector.” (Palo Alto Times)

The reading of this was greeted by scoffs from the audience, but bolstered the belief that the resignation was in fact due to a scuffle with the Women’s Auxiliary about the rummage sales. The head of the Women’s Auxiliary (Sybil Kenyon) spoke up, though, and disputed this idea. She said that “at no time have I had any discord with the Rector.” But she did go on to emphasize that the rummage sales were an integral part of the church’s income.

Dr. Charles Plough of Amarillo Road, Palo Alto said “There has been a continuing series of crisis for over 10 years.” He accused the rector of having an “unpredictable disposition” and being very “reluctant to delegate authority.” He felt the Vestry’s acceptance of the resignation was “right and proper” and that it was “time for a change.”

Palo Alto Times

An angry woman in the audience shouted out that she was glad of the Canon’s unpredictable temper. “Oh boy, sometimes we are glad he does have it…we need it” she said.

Palo Alto Times

After everyone had spoken, there was a lengthy discussion as to whether there should be a straw vote by everyone present to advise the Vestry whether or not to reconsider acceptance of West’s resignation. The Vestry protested against this, stating that:

“A vote would cut deeply into the parish, and may cut deeply into life-long friendships.”

Palo Alto Times

They told the crowd that the meeting was to “help square away the facts” and to let the Vestry know the congregation’s feelings so the Vestry could make the final decision.

Although Canon West was not present at the meeting, a parishioner had an interesting tale to tell. A child at the time, he was playing outside. He saw Canon West sneak into the organ loft where he could secretly listen to the meeting and then sneak out again when the meeting was over and before anyone could see that he was there. Dramatic, right?

When the public meeting concluded, the Vestry met privately with Canon West for 45 minutes. It went like this – The Vestry asked West to state his reasons for resigning. He replied that he already had and if they didn’t understand it was impossible for him to make it any clearer.  They asked him if there were any conditions that could be changed to make it possible for him to stay. He replied that the congregation would have to adopt Tithing and that there would be no more Rummage Sales (or at least only Rummage Sales as a ‘last resort’.)  The Vestry asked West why he hadn’t brought these matters up before resigning. He said that “he felt the need to apply a shock treatment to the parish.” This seems to indicate that his resignation might have been a kind of power play on the part of Canon West that backfired on him.  But it’s impossible to know what he was truly thinking (Vestry Minutes).

The Vestry adjourned for the night and resumed deliberations on October 27, 1961. They read all of the various letters sent to them by parishioners, both pro and con. After over three and a half hours of discussion, they voted to affirm their original action of October 13^th in accepting Canon West’s resignation. And that was basically the end of Canon West’s employment at St. Mark’s (Vestry Minutes).

A final article in the Palo Alto Times on the resignation concluded:

“The reasons for the resignation were never completely clear, but apparently the rector felt he was being opposed on certain matters of church policy by some members of the congregation. There seemed to be an early chance that Canon Edwin West would reconsider. However…after the criticisms were made public, Canon West said ‘that under no circumstances would I remain at St. Mark’s with the present vestry.’ He resigned for good in December.”

Palo Alto Times

This ended Canon West’s time at St. Mark’s – but he continued to make news. He initially planned to lead a new Episcopal congregation formed by the 50 families from St. Mark’s who left with him. The Diocese and Bishop Pike successfully used Canon Law to block this effort.

For a short while West served as an associate rector at a church in Houston, Texas. In August of 1962, he renounced all ties with the Episcopal Church, publicly stating this was due to his disagreement with Bishop Pike over “interpretation of questions relating to the doctrines of the Virgin Birth and the Holy Trinity” (Sermon).

Finally, Canon West joined the Syrian Orthodox Church and, with about 100 followers from St. Mark’s, established the Orthodox Church of the Redeemer in Los Altos Hills. Sadly, West died of a heart attack just before the new church was completed and so never had a chance to really lead his new congregation. He was 58 years old.

Whatever side you were on, the way Canon West left St. Mark’s was a tragedy of almost biblical proportions – and a terrible way to end his time at St. Mark’s and in the Episcopal Church. Although we don’t even remember these events today, it was catastrophic for our church at that time. After 10 years of very successful leadership, his abrupt departure caused deep pain to many (including himself), resulted in a schism with many families leaving the church (and the resulting loss of friendships and community) and overshadowed his professional reputation and all the good he had done for the parish. There’s no putting a positive spin on this episode of our history.

On a side note, the Orthodox Church of the Redeemer went on to thrive and still exists today, despite the fact that in 2002 it was destroyed in an arson attack. This was a terrorist act in retaliation for the events of 9/11. You can read more about the history of Church of the Redeemer here: