Episcopal Press and News
Wantland Becomes Bishop of Eau Claire
Episcopal News Service. October 2, 1980 [80350]
EAU CLAIRE, Wisc. -- The Rev. William Charles Wantland was ordained and consecrated the fourth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Eau Claire on Sept. 30 at a 7 p. m. service in Christ Cathedral Church here. Presiding Bishop John M. Allin was the consecrator.
Assisting Bishop Allin as co-consecrators were Bishops Stanley Atkins, retiring of Eau Claire; Gerald N. McAllister of Oklahoma; Charles T. Gaskell of Milwaukee; and Albert W. Hillestad of Springfield. The Rev. Canon James R. Gundrum, Executive Officer and Secretary of the General Convention, was the registrar of the event.
Bishop Victor Rivera of the Diocese of San Joaquin was the preacher at the service.
Bishop Wantland, a member of the Seminole Nation and a lawyer, was elected to head the diocese at a special convention here on June 7. He succeeds Bishop Atkins, who officially retired upon the new bishop's consecration, after 10 years as head of the diocese.
Bishop Wantland, 46, had been rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Oklahoma City for three years when he was elected to the episcopacy. He has been active in his native Oklahoma in many Indian rights efforts. He received his B.A. degree from the University of Hawaii and his LLB and JD degrees from Oklahoma City University. His D. Rel. degree was received from Geneva-St. Albans Theological College.
The new bishop has served as a member of the National Committee on Indian Work and of the Coalition for Human Needs. He is the author of Christian Initiation and Cultural Problems Between Indians and Non-Indians.
His wife, Mary Jo Watson Wantland, is pursuing a doctorate in the field of Indian art at the University of Oklahoma. The Wantlands have three children.