Elizabeth Lamont Powell

Betty Powell, widow of The Rt Reverend Chilton Powell, died peacefully in Oklahoma City on 8 October 2011. A memorial Eucharist will be celebrated at Saint Paul’s Cathedral at 11AM Thursday, 13 October. Burial will in the Cathedral columbarium. A reception will follow the service.

Born in Dunseith ND on December 20 1914, Francis Elizabeth was the daughter of Dr John G Lamont and Cora Francis Brandenburg. She is survived her son John Powell of Boston, her daughter Sarah Newcomb of Oklahoma City and her sister Joyce Lamont of St Paul. Her younger sister Alwyn Lamont of Oklahoma City died in 1975.

Betty attended schools in North Dakota and Minnesota and graduated from Denison University in Granville OH with a BA in Music Education and was a member of Alpha Phi. After college she was the organist at Gethsemane Church in Minneapolis, where she and Chilton were married in 1941.

Shortly thereafter, Chilton was called to be Dean of Trinity Cathedral in Omaha where they lived for nine years. While there she was deeply involved in church life, with Winifred Brinker, the Bishop’s wife, co-founded The Women’s Auxiliary at Bishop Clarkson Hospital, began a long career of teaching church hymnody, and began a decades long working association with The Evergreen Conference School of Church Music in Evergreen CO.

In 1951 Chilton was elected Bishop of Oklahoma and the family moved to Oklahoma City. Once settled she took on the duties of bishop’s wife, and was an active member of St Paul’s Cathedral; mentor to clergy wives and Board Member of the Episcopal Church Women of Oklahoma. She founded the Virginia Allison Fund for assistance to clergy wives and promoted the Francis Casady Scholarship Fund to encourage careers for women in Christian education. She and her husband were involved in the life and ministry of the Episcopal Church in Nicaragua through the vicissitudes of earthquakes, civil war, typhoon and poverty.

Betty was a member of the American Guild of Organists, Art Renaissance, a correspondent for Alpha Phi and volunteer at Presbyterian Hospital. Other interests included St. George’s Guild for the poor, Rest, The Arc and many civic endeavors. She was also a longtime supporter of St Jude’s Ranch for Children and The Sisters of the Community of St Mary in Milwaukee. She was a constant correspondent, remembering several hundred people with love, concern and encouragement. Her last years were spent in happy residence ath the Fountains at Canterbury. She passed quietly surrounded by her children.

Memorial gifts can made to St Paul’s Cathedral for social outreach, St George’s Guild for the poor or a charity of your choice.