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