New Interim Rector at St. James

St. James Episcopal Church in Laconia will be welcoming the Rev. William S. Gannon as Interim Rector over the July 4th weekend. He succeeds the Rev. Jonathan MacKenzie who retired effective today.

Father MacKenzie and his wife, Carol, were feted at a celebration of his ministry held on June 13. His last Sunday as preacher and celebrant was June 20.

Father Gannon’s most recent assignment was in Tamworth, as Interim Rector of St. Andrew’s-In-the-Valley Episcopal Church. Ordained in 1962 at All Saints’ Parish, Peterborough, where he began as a Curate, he was the Rector of St. Andrew’s, West Manchester, from 1964 to 1969.

He left St. Andrew’s to become the head of the Sacred Studies Department at the Groton School, Groton, Massachusetts. He also taught at St. Paul’s School, Concord, and was a headmaster of two New York Schools, St. Mary’s School in Peekskill and the Lenox School in New York City. For ten years he had a very successful career working for a Dun and Bradstreet subsidiary, the American Credit Indemnity Company, in New York. He returned to full time parish ministry as the Rector of Christ Church, Glen Ridge, N.J. and, most recently, St. Andrew’s in Harrington Park, N.J.

Growing up in Chester, he is a Pinkerton Academy graduate class of 1954. Four years later he graduated from Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont, with a B.A. in History, and was commissioned a 2nd Lt. in the Army Signal Corps. He received two graduate degrees, M.Div. and S.T.M., from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. He has been an active musician throughout his life, playing the trombone and the double bass in schools, churches, and professional venues.

Father Gannon lives with his wife, Barbara, in Bedford. She has had an active and varied business career in New York City mostly in positions where she reported to the presidents of several major corporations. She is retired. Her last position was Director of Human Resources for Lifecodes, a biotechnology corporation in New York which was responsible for the development of DNA testing. The Gannons have four grown children and seven grandchildren.

St. James is located at 876 North Main Street. Services of Eucharist and Sermon are offered regularly at 5 p.m. Saturday and 8 and 10 a.m. Sunday. For further information call the parish office at 524-5800.