CLERGY & STAFF

INTERIM RECTOR

Since 1978 I have had one foot in Florida and another in Wisconsin. I was sent to Nashotah House Seminary in 1978 by the Diocese of Southwest Florida. Upon graduation in 1981 I served for two years and a few months as an assistant priest at Calvary Church in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. In 1983 I became rector of St. Peter’s Church in West Allis Wisconsin. In 1990 I was called to be rector of St. Boniface Church in Mequon, Wisconsin where I served for 17 years. Both West Allis and Mequon are communities in the Milwaukee metro area.

After nearly 24 years in Wisconsin I became the rector of St. James Church in Leesburg, Florida in the Diocese of Central Florida. I served there from 2007 to 2013. In 2013 I was ordained Bishop of the Diocese of Eau Claire which covered the northwestern third of the State of Wisconsin. In the fall of 2020 I turned 72 years old. By the Episcopal Church’s canon law I had to retire. 

You could say I failed miserably at retirement. After supplying for a while at St. Paul’s Church in Quincy, Florida which is near Tallahassee, I became rector of St. Philip’s Church in Jacksonville. I served there for 14 months before becoming Assisting Bishop for the Diocese of Florida which is in the northern part of the state. With the retirement of the Bishop of Florida, I left that diocese and served a short time as supply priest in the Diocese of Central Florida. In the spring of 2024 Bishop Scharf of the Diocese of Southwest Florida asked me to be the Interim Rector of Grace Church. I began supplying for this wonderful congregation in June and became Interim Rector beginning in August. It has been a joy for me to be here. I suspect sometime this year Grace Church’s vestry will elect a rector. With that decision, my work at Grace will be completed, and I will move to a new chapter of my life. 

I am retired military. I served four years on active duty in the Navy from 1970 to 1974. I was first enlisted and later a line officer. Most of that time I was in Hawaii. In 1986 I became a Navy Chaplain. This was as a reservist. I served 22 years as a chaplain. Over those years I served a third of my time each with the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard. I retired in 2008.

I am thankful to have a wonderful wife, May Ruth, who grew up near Brandon, Florida. We have been married 55 years. We have three children, Madeleine, Lydia, and Alex. Alex lives with us in our home in Leesburg. Madeleine and Lydia are married. Both live near Milwaukee. Madeleine and her husband, Dave, have two sons, Finley who is nearly seven and Hunter who is four. Lydia and her husband, Jon, have a daughter Cece who is five, and a son, Connor, who is three. Lydia and Jon are expecting another son to be born in July. Our granddaughter, Cece, is surrounded by boys, but she can handle them! Believe me!

In semi-retirement I find myself doing more yard work and home repair than I care to remember. For relief I play golf at a short course near my home and swim laps at our community pool. Altogether, God has been good to me, and I am thankful!

—Bishop Jay Lambert