Thursday, August 29, at 3AM God called home our father, Rev. William Longley Bigelow. Born of John and Frances Bigelow, in Towanda, Pennsylvania. He was 83 and is survived by his favorite daughter Mary J and number one son Daniel V, of Chicago and Los Angeles respectively.
He attended Oberlin College as a Philosophy major, and the Pacific School of Religion where he got his Masters of Divinity. Bill was a lifelong student of theology and world religions; living his life dedicated to social justice as a Presbyterian Minister, Ecumenical Missionary, and High School Teacher.
During seminary he joined Martin Luther King Jr’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) where he learned to use nonviolent resistance, civil disobedience and grassroots organizing to promote racial equality. There he registered voters, desegregated buses and faced violent reprisals from those who disagreed with the civil rights organization.
He then took his first assignment as a minister in San Francisco, where he met and married professional musician and journalist, Christine D’Harlingue (nee Selsor), with whom he eventually had two children. He was called to a church in Haight-Ashbury, so they soon moved to the corner of Haight and Ashbury in the middle of the Summer of Love.
Following a tradition in our family that goes back generations, Dad was a dedicated missionary. For 15 years he traveled around the US and internationally with the Ecumenical Institute and Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA). Their mission was centered around community development rather than spreading religion, demonstrating what people can achieve when they work together. The ICA assigned Dad (and us variously) to Chicago, IL; Madison, WI; Saint Louis, MO; American Samoa; Phoenix, AZ; Taipei, Taiwan and Houston, TX, among others.
Dad spent a few years teaching high school at Chimney Rock Center, a home for teens in crisis in Houston, TX. In fact he served as a substitute teacher in high schools all over the Houston Independent School District. As a preacher he ministered to churches in Genoa, NY; Yankeetown, FL and Brookfield, IL.
In his retirement Bill filled pulpits around the Chicago area when needed; substitute preaching sermons and singing solos at his local church – Mayfair Presbyterian. Dad enjoyed bible study with a group of theologians and retired ministers who call themselves the Bible Boys. He also maintained friendships with a number of Chicago’s unhoused people.
He was an active member of the Presbyterian Church’s Middle East Task Force for many years. It was set up to encourage study and dialogue in response to the Middle East conflict. He traveled to several countries there and cared deeply about fostering a just peace. Please make a donation in his honor to the Seraj Library Project, who build libraries in Palestine. https://www.serajlibraries.org/donate.
Since the Pandemic we’ve been meeting as a family on FaceTime every other week. Dan & Ronnie, Mary & Jimmie, Uri, Mama Kiki & Uncle Mark will miss him terribly, and love him forever.
