[Diocese of Los Angeles] The Rt. Rev. Chester Lovelle Talton, retired bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Los Angeles who later served as bishop provisional of the Fresno-based Diocese of San Joaquin, died Nov. 20 at his Altadena home with loved ones at his side. He was 84 and had been in declining health after recent spinal surgery and subsequent hospitalization.
Survivors include his wife, April Grayson Talton, and his daughters, Kathy Talton-Wilson (Ray Wilson) and Linda Talton, and sons, Fred (Tamu Talton) and Ben (Janai Nelson), and eight grandchildren: Noemi, Quinton, Jacob, Kimathi, Jendaya, Karryne, Nandi, and Osei Talton. The bishop was preceded in death by his first wife, Karen Warren Talton, whom he married in 1963 and who died in 2003.
Memorial service arrangements are pending. Condolences may be sent to family members in care of the Bishop’s Office, 840 Echo Park Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90026, or bishopsoffice@ladiocese.org.
“Chet Talton was a pioneer, a prophet and a pastor for the ages,” Los Angeles Bishop John Harvey Taylor said. “Being elected bishop was an act of justice; but he lived his whole life that way. Traveling around the diocese, I encounter so many who describe their pride at having been confirmed by Chet — the warm voice, the loving smile, the gentlest of old-school slaps,” added Taylor, whom Talton ordained to the priesthood in 2004.
“With April at his side, he navigated a rough year with calm and courage, first kept from their home by the wildfires, then a succession of health challenges,” Taylor said. “Thanks to April, his passing was as gentle as it possibly could have been.”
The Episcopal Church’s first African-American bishop in the western United States, Talton was elected bishop suffragan in 1990 and served Los Angeles from 1991 to 2010. Talton served from 2011 to 2014 as bishop provisional of San Joaquin, as that diocese continued to reorganize after a large number of Episcopalians there had chosen to leave The Episcopal Church.
“Chet Talton Day” was celebrated in the Diocese of Los Angeles on May 18, 2024, with Eucharist at St. John’s Cathedral, co-sponsored by the diocesan Program Group on Black Ministries and the H. Belfield Hannibal Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians, highlighting his many gifts and ministries.
These included pastoral care and advocacy, especially after the 1992 Rodney King uprisings when Talton helped establish the Episcopal Community Federal Credit Union to provide loans to small businesses and others recovering from the crisis without access to traditional banking. He also oversaw diaconal ministries in the diocese for many years, guiding numerous deacons from discernment for ordination through placement in local ministries.
Talton co-edited the 2003 book “Race and Prayer: Collected Voices, Many Dreams” with the Rev. Malcolm Boyd, the late writer/poet-in-residence in the Diocese of Los Angeles, who died in 2015. The book is a collection of prayers and reflections from writers within the Diocese of Los Angeles and beyond.
Churchwide, Talton chaired the House of Bishops program committee during the administrations of Presiding Bishops Edmond L. Browning and Frank T. Griswold.
Talton was born Sept. 22, 1941, in Eldorado, Arkansas, to Mae Ola and Chester Talton and grew up in Oakland, California.
Ordained to the diaconate in 1970 and the priesthood in 1971 in the San Francisco-based Diocese of California, Talton received a Master of Divinity degree in 1970 from Berkeley’s Church Divinity School of the Pacific, which later awarded him an honorary doctorate of divinity. In 1965 he earned a Bachelor of Science degree from California State University, Hayward.
Talton’s parish ministry including service as rector of St. Philip’s Church, St. Paul, Minnesota (1976-1981); vicar of Holy Cross Church, Chicago, Illinois (1973-1976); vicar of St. Matthias Mission and curate of All Saints Church, Carmel, California (1971-1973); and vicar of Good Shepherd Church, Berkeley, California (1970-1971).
From 1981 to 1985, Talton was mission officer of Trinity Church, Wall Street in New York. He assisted in establishing a shelter and a feeding program that served 150 lunches daily. He helped open drop-in centers for teens residing in two housing developments in lower Manhattan, and during his tenure day care centers for infants and preschoolers were started on Wall Street to serve clerical workers paid low wages and in need of care for their small children.
Talton was at the time of his election to the episcopate rector of historic St. Philip’s Church in Harlem, New York, where he began ministry in 1985 serving the 900-member congregation with numerous community-outreach programs and a full-time staff of some 50 members. Notable members of the parish included U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who served as a vestry member.