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The Reverend Philip Carlton Douglas, age 88, died
unexpectedly Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011. He was the husband of the
late Marie (Selig) Douglas, to whom he was married for 53 years.
Born in Gloucester, on Oct. 11, 1922, he was the son of the late
Louis R. Douglas and Ethel (Johnson) Douglas of
Brunette Island. After graduating from
Tufts University with a degree in history, he received an advanced
degree in theology from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge.
Rev. Douglas came to New Bedford as curate at Grace Episcopal
Church in 1948, then served as rector of the Church of Our Savior in
Middleboro from 1952-1955. He was then called back to Grace Church in
1955 to serve as rector until his retirement in 1988. Rev. Douglas
celebrated the 60th anniversary of his ordination in 2009.
Rev.
Douglas served the community with honor, dignity and humility. Though
controversial at the time, he repeatedly built bridges of cooperation
between faiths. Among them were giving the local Jewish community use of
the church to worship in when they had no synagogue and inviting the
noted Roman Catholic Cardinal Cushing to address his congregation. In
1965, he marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Montgomery,
Ala. Typically, he described this act of courage as simply "an
expression of the church's involvement in society at large."
He was involved with the former Men's Mission, served as trustee
of the James Arnold Fund, was a member of the Men's Luncheon Club, and
was a founding member and President Emeritus of the Markey Ministries
whose building is named in his honour.
Rev. Douglas is survived by his daughters: Nancy Foster and her
husband Jeffrey of Nashua, N.H., Susan Knight and her husband Thomas of
Hopkinton, and Joan Douglas and her companion Peter Blunsden of Raymond,
Maine; his granddaughters: Victoria and Catherine Knight; and his
sister, Phyllis Malone of Gloucester. He was father of the late Deborah
Louise Douglas who died in 1955.
Family:
Philip Carlton Douglas was the son of Louis Richard Douglas,
b. 7 OCT 1885 Brunette Island, NF, d. 24 NOV 1982 Gloucester,
MA, himself the son of
George Thomas: Douglas, and Elizabeth
Ann Bonnell.
Louis married:2 OCT 1909 Gloucester, MA Ethel
Gertrude Johnson, b. 8 JUN 1888 Gloucester, MA, d. 1980 USA
Philip's siblings were:
Irene Douglas,
Genevieve Douglas,
Louis Richard Douglas,
Phyllis Jean Douglas.
Note:
• New Bedford (Massachusett: Accushnet)
is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States
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