Loading...Our diocese's senior priest and one of its most beloved, the Rev. H. Howard Surface Jr., 84, of Bowling Green, died June 1, 2011, at The Medical Center of Bowling Green after serving his parish and our diocese for more than 39 years. We have received permission from the Daily News, the Bowling Green newspaper, to reprint (and update) his obituary.
The Washington, D.C., native attended Princeton University and Virginia Tech before serving in the Navy during World War II. He returned to graduate from the University of Virginia, then attended Virginia Theological Seminary, where he received his Master of Divinity degree. He was ordained a priest of the Episcopal Church at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., in 1952.
After serving as associate rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Rock Creek Parish, Washington, D.C., he came to Christ Episcopal Church in Bowling Green, where he served as rector from 1953 to 1992. In 39 years at Christ Church, he also served as chaplain at Western Kentucky University and founded St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Glasgow. He served on the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky Standing Committee and Executive Council, and was a seven-time deputy to the national General Convention of the Episcopal Church.
He served as a trustee of the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn., from 1957-1960. He was the senior member of the clergy of the diocese at the time of his death. He served as president of the Ministerial Association and on boards of the Rotary Club, Mental Health Association, TB Association, Girls Club, Capitol Arts Center and Kentucky Museum. He was an ambassador of the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce and a longtime member of the Fortnightly Club and "The Other" Literary Club. He married Linda Anderson Smith of Georgetown in 1954. He was preceded in death by a sister, Jane Surface Henson.
The funeral was at 1 p.m. Saturday at Christ Episcopal Church, with interment in the church's garden columbarium. Expressions of sympathy may take the form of donations to the building fund at Christ Episcopal Church, 1215 State St., Bowling Green, KY 42101.
Survivors include his wife, Linda Anderson Smith Surface; two children, David Howard Surface and his wife, Patricia Rush, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Mary Hall Surface and her husband, Kevin Reese, of Washington, D.C.; three grandchildren, Malinda Reese, Matthew Surface and Cailey Surface; two brothers-in-law, Judge Robert H. Smith of Lighthouse Point, Fla., and Lt. Col. William F. Henson of Sunnyside, Va.; and five nieces and nephews.
