REV. RALPH M. CARMICHAEL
1912 – 1995
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| 1973 | 1983 | 1993 |
Ralph M. Carmichael, 82, minister
The Rev. Ralph Miller Carmichael, 82, of Raquette Lake, Hamilton County, died peacefully Saturday 26 August at home.
He was born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, and raised in Cromwell, Connecticut. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from McGill University in 1935, and what is now a Master’s in Theology from Union Seminary in 1938 where he was vice president of his class.
The Rev. James H. Robinson, founder of Crossroads Africa, was the class president and both he and Ralph dedicated their ministries to ecumenism – the bringing together of all the world’s religions.
Following ordination, he was minister of Lebanon Presbyterian Church and later served on the staff of the Council of Churches in Buffalo. In 1951 he was ordained a priest of the Episcopal Church and served as canon of the Cathedral Church of St. John, Wilmington, Delaware, before being called to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Albany from 1955 to 1975.
In 1964 he received a grant, matched by St. Andrew’s Albany, from the National Church’s Department of College Work for a year of study at Oxford University, England.
After retirement he was priest-in-charge of St. Andrew’s Episcopal in Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico, until 1989 and had just completed 38 summers with the Church of the Transfiguration, Blue Mountain Lake, Hamilton County. He preached the Sunday before his death and had prepared his sermon for the next day.
His work “Understandings” has been a basis of study in several parishes, and his “Sermons and Reflections” will be published this year by the Church of the Transfiguration.
Survivors include his wife, Margaret Jean Dunlop Carmichael, a daughter, Fay of Baltimore, MD, three sons, John of Albany, Paul of Ridgefield, Conn, and Andrew of Plattsburgh; 12 grandchildren and a great-grandson.
A memorial service will be held at 3 pm Saturday 9 September at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 10 North Main Avenue, Albany.
Burial will be in St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Churchyard, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the School for the Deaf in Jocotepec, Mexico, through St. Andrew’s, Albany.
