RIP: The Very Rev. Sandye Wilson, cathedral dean and Church Pension Fund trustee

The Very Rev. Sandye Wilson, interim dean of the Cathedral of All Saints in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, died on April 15. Photo: Facebook

[Episcopal News Service] The Very Rev. Sandye Wilson, interim dean of the Cathedral of All Saints in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, died on April 15. An announcement of her death was made by the cathedral on its Facebook page April 16.

Wilson, who also was vice chair of the Church Pension Fund board of trustees, announced on March 19 via Facebook that after two surgeries, she had been diagnosed with stage 3 serous endometrial cancer and would undergo about six months of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. On April 4 she posted that she had completed her first round of chemotherapy.

Serous endometrial cancer occurs in about 10% of all cases of endometrial cancer but represents 40% of deaths.

Wilson’s ministry in The Episcopal Church spanned more than 40 years. Ordained as a priest in 1980, she served congregations in the dioceses of Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Newark and New Jersey. She also served as chief operating officer of Saint Augustine’s University, a private historically Black university in Raleigh, North Carolina, one of two HBCUs still associated with The Episcopal Church. She was a longtime deputy to General Convention, member of Executive Council and former president of the Union of Black Episcopalians.

Tributes to Wilson quickly appeared across social media. Missouri Bishop Deon Johnson on Facebook described Wilson as someone “whose indelible mark on countless lives will long be cherished.” He added, “She has been a guiding light, a faithful friend, a dedicated companion and a catalyst for good trouble to so many in this church and beyond. She now rests with the ancestors and saints in the realms of eternal light.”

Notice of her death also was shared by the Union of Black Episcopalians, who called Wilson a “UBE pioneer.”

The Rev. Susan Russell, canon for engagement across difference for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, California, posted, “If you Google ‘force of nature,’ Sandye Wilson’s photo would rise to the top.” Russell said that like others she was grieving Wilson’s death “while giving thanks for her bright light and powerful witness to a church she loved too much not to challenge it to be better than it was willing to settle to be.”

No announcement has yet been made regarding funeral arrangements.