The Rev. Canon William Gilbert, a retired priest of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa and former editor of Crosstalk, passed away on Jan. 27, 2025 at the age of 87.
Born and raised in Toronto, Gilbert earned an Honours Bachelor Degree in History at the University of Toronto in 1959. He graduated with a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from a Trinity College in Toronto in 1962. In 1962 and 1963, he was ordained deacon and priest in the Anglican Church of Canada by Bishop Ernest Reed of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa. Subsequently, he served as a parish priest at St. Richard’s Church, Ottawa, in the Parish of Petawawa, and at St. Martin’s Church, Ottawa.
In 1969, Gilbert graduated from the Ottawa Teacher’s College and was a teacher at Hopewell Avenue Public School in Ottawa for four years. In 1973, he accepted a position as programme officer with the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa and also edited Crosstalk for several years. His son, Bill, who has worked as an accountant in the diocesan financial ministry for many years, told Crosstalk that he remembers his father laying out the stories and photos for issues of the newspaper on a light table. “He loved it,” he said.
Gilbert was later appointed as diocesan director of programme.
In 1975, he was awarded a Master of Education Degree from the University of Ottawa. Gilbert was invested as an honourary Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa. In 1990, he was appointed parish priest of St. John’s Church in Richmond, Ontario, from which he retired in 1998.
Saint John, Innisville — Deanery of the Southwest