Quinby, The Reverend Congreve Hamilton – 1928 - 2018

Congreve Hamilton Quinby – 1928 - 2018

Father Con Quinby was born in Rochester, New York, to the late Henry Dean Quinby Jr. and the late Alice Hamilton Onderdonk on November 28, 1928. He attended Phillip’s Academy, Andover, Maryland, graduating in 1946. He matriculated to Williams College, Williamstown, Maryland, graduating in 1950 with a major in
music.

Con served in the United States Navy during the Korean Conflict as a naval intelligence officer, achieving the rank of Lieutenant, junior grade. While in the navy, he received the call to enter the priesthood in the Episcopal Church, a vocation he fulfilled with devotion, joy and wonder for almost 60 years. He attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois, marrying Constance Louise Philp right after graduation on May 31, 1958 in the seminary chapel. They drove cross country on their honeymoon to his first ministry as vicar of St. Joseph’s Church in Buena Park, California.

In 1962, Father Quinby was called as rector of Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Los Angeles. Serving in the inner-city during the tumultuous 1960s is when his social justice work truly took hold. He marched in Selma in 1965, registered voters, and advocated for fair housing laws. He was instrumental in building subsidized housing for senior citizens as well as the first center for independent living in an African-American community. He stood with the United Farm Workers in their fight for fair wages and supported the Black Panthers as they fed hungry children.
In 1978, Father Quinby became Canon Pastor at Grace and Holy Trinity in Kansas City, Montana, and in 1982 became Priest-in-Charge at St. Augustine’s, also in Kansas City. He served as rector to Trinity Church, Potsdam, New York from 1985 until his retirement from full-time parish ministry in 1994.

Father Quinby served fifteen years as a summer chaplain at the Protestant Chapel in his beloved Tadoussac, Quebec, Canada. In retirement, he assisted at parishes in Northern New York as part of the Regional Ministry of St. Lawrence County. For more than twenty years, he served one to two months each winter as Priest-in-Residence at the House of the Redeemer, a retreat house, in New York City.

In 2002, Father Quinby and his wife moved to Burlington, Vermont, where he continued to serve as supply clergy in parishes throughout Northern New York and Vermont. His concern for the marginalized found new outlets as a volunteer with the Kairos Prison Ministry and co-founder Camp Agape Vermont, a summer camp for children with a parent who is incarcerated. He also volunteered through the Vermont Department of Corrections and Burlington Community Justice Center as a COSA team member helping prisoners reintegrate into the community.

In his spare time, he gardened, created exquisite needlepoint, attended opera, cooked fine food, drank good wine and extended hospitality to all comers.

Father Quinby was preceded in death by his brother, H. Dean Quinby, III; stepmother, Maud E. Quinby; and step-father, Lloyd B. van da Linda.

He is survived by his wife of 60 years; two daughters, Edith L. Quinby (Paul Cochran) and Carol Q. Hunter (Richard); sister, Linda Q. Letson (Timothy); sister-in-law Elaine E. Quinby; grandchildren P. Quinby Hunter, Laura C. Hunter and Nathan J. Hunter and much-loved nieces and nephews.
His funeral was held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, Burlington, Vermont.

Constance Quinby