The Rev. Phillip B. Hawley

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Durango, CO, 1945-1964

Written by Parishioner Kip Boyd, 2019

​The Rev. Phillip B. Hawley was called from All Saints Episcopal Church, Torrington, Wyoming, to become the vicar of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Durango, Colorado, on June 8, 1945. One year earlier (May 5, 1944) he had married Shirley Moon at St. Peter’s Church, Sheridan Wyoming. He arrived in Durango in July of 1945 with a very small baby daughter (Mary) and a wife who could play the organ! Prior to Fr. Hawley’s arrival, the parish formed a housing committee and secured a new rectory (with furniture) for $5,700, after obtaining a loan from the Colorado Diocese for $4,500. That house with a red tiled roof still stands at the corner of West 7th Street and West 2nd Avenue. There were evidently some plumbing problems in the rectory because the Vestry Minutes of February 1947, taken by Judge James Noland (the temporary secretary of the Vestry) noted: “Discussion was had concerning the Vicar’s toilet seat – the vicar reported that the top of the reservoir strikes him in the middle of the back, and that in order to sit down he has to crawl under the wash bowl and hold onto the bath-tub pipe. It was agreed that something should be done for the Vicar’s relief.” By June of 1947, one of the church wardens reported that he had “ordered necessary reparis [sic] and toilet facilities in the rectory.”

At the time of Fr. Hawley’s arrival, St. Mark’s was a mission, having lost its parish status (probably in the 1930s) because of its low membership and inability to be self-supporting. Despite the small size of his Durango parish, Fr. Hawley became extremely busy. By August of 1945, he had developed a plan for St. Mark’s to become a parish again, and a formal application was sent to the Diocese in the spring of 1946. When Bishop Ingley made his official visit to St. Mark’s in 1946, Fr. Hawley was also serving missions in Mancos, Cortez, Pagosa Springs and Silverton. In January of 1947, Father Hawley’s second daughter (Martha) was born, and a parish committee began investigating the feasibility of excavating and finishing the church basement where Sunday-school classes were then being held on a dirt floor.

For some reason, St. Mark’s in 1947 had no bell in its belfry (the original bell may have been donated to war effort metal collections), and the Ladies Guild (the most common source of funding) had no extra money. According to the June 26, 1947 Minutes of the St. Mark’s Bishop’s Committee (as a mission, St. Mark’s was not entitled to a “vestry”): “Warden Coombs reported that he has located a bell about 3 miles from Mancos. Mr. [Leon] Bieri [a member of the Bishop’s Committee] was assigned the duty of stealing and hanging the bell.” One month later at the July 23rd meeting, the Minutes state: “The Vicar [Fr. Hawley] reported that the theft of the bell had been successfully completed, that preparations are now being made to hang it. It was suggested that some of the Committee may also be hanged if caught. Mr. Casey [the Treasurer] objected to these remarks and they were ordered stricken [but they never were].” A note from Betty Frances (a St. Mark’s parishioner in the 1940s) in 1953 claims: “. . . the bell that now hangs in the St. Mark’s belfry . . . was donated by a friend of a vestryman. It came from a fire station in Eureka, Colo . . . .” I suspect our current bell was obtained in 1947; whether it was from Mancos or Eureka and whether it was “stolen” or “donated” remains to be determined.

In addition to the secretive skullduggery surrounding the bell acquisition, it was well known that Fr. Hawley was, occasionally, neither a patient nor a flexible leader. He clashed with members of the Vestry regarding the appropriate use of a thurible (incense censor) during the service. He argued with parishioners regarding the appropriate names to be used when baptizing their children. But, despite his flaws, St. Mark’s flourished during Fr. Hawley’s tenure. He was evidently a good public speaker and a good liturgist. Durango High School records indicate that he was invited to read scripture and pray at graduation ceremonies in 1951 and 1953. In 1954 he participated in the 40th anniversary of Father Liebler’s ordination at St. Christopher’s mission in Bluff, Utah (see picture below). His wife played the organ and started a successful choir. He became active in local community groups, including the Parson’s Drug Coffee Club (see newspaper clipping below), the Masons, the Civil Air Patrol (as Chaplain) and the Fencing Club (instructor and founder). Under his leadership, the current stone parish hall was added to the back of the church in 1954. During construction, men of the church dug much of the basement by hand. Father Hawley is said to have brought a keg of beer, and women brought sandwiches to the site on Saturdays to encourage this effort. Arvo Matis, a lay member of the church, organized a group of parishioners in 1959 (called the “Twerps”) that held weekly dances in the Parish Hall for local teens. The congregation grew numerically and financially; parish status was restored in 1951 and has been maintained to the present day. Father Hawley was St. Mark’s longest serving priest – 19 years. He died of colon cancer in Durango in 1964.