House of Deputies Medal awarded to Lonnie Hamilton

Lonnie Hamilton with the President of the House of Deputies, the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings,
onstage with the rest of the South Carolina deputation and Bishop Skip Adams.

On July 10, the House of Deputies Medal was awarded to Lonnie Hamilton III, a lay deputy for South Carolina. House of Deputies President Gay Clark Jennings presented the award, honoring Lonnie's leadership and witness in serving the Church through a time of division and the ongoing reorganization in our diocese. Our deputation and Bishop Adams accompanied him to the stage as he received a standing ovation from more than 800 people present in the House of Deputies.

Watch the video here - the presentation begins at about 17:00 minutes.

Here is the text of President Jennings' presentation:

Now, back in 2012, we had a little excitement at General Convention. ... At that convention, held in the great diocese of Indianapolis, some of those gathered among us decided to leave the convention and, ultimately, to leave the Episcopal Church. Just one loyal Episcopalian from the former Diocese of South Carolina remained, and he is a gifted educator, a civil rights advocate, and an astonishing jazz saxophonist and clarinetist who has also been a faithful member of our church for more than 60 years. And through it all, he has never stopped working and praying and hoping that the people of his former diocese will find a way to come back together so that we all may be one."

Deputy Lonnie Hamilton of the Episcopal Church in South Carolina has been a member of Calvary Episcopal Church in Charleston for 57 years and served on the vestry, as choirmaster, and in many other leadership roles. He has served on the Standing Committee and the Diocesan Council in South Carolina, and this is his sixth General Convention as a deputy or alternate. He is a retired administrator with the Charleston County School District and served his community as a member of Charleston County Council for more than 20 years. He was the first African American to serve on that body and was twice elected as its chairman.

The House of Deputies is not, as you can imagine, the first organization to honor Lonnie’s faithful ministry. When he received the Dean’s Cross Award from Virginia Theological Seminary last year, the citation noted that Lonnie has “a reputation not only as a gifted educator but also as a charismatic figure who was popular with students and who could help ease tensions at Bonds-Wilson and other North Charleston area schools resulting from the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision. In the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo, he led the diocesan Community Housing Development Organization, which has converted dozens of properties into affordable housing units.”

As if all this weren’t enough, Lonnie toured with the Jenkins Orphanage Bands in the mid-1940s and played with his own band, Lonnie Hamilton and the Diplomats, which was the signature jazz band in Charleston for decades.

For his distinguished service to the Episcopal Church and to the community we serve in Charleston, South Carolina, I am honored to award the House of Deputies medal to Deputy Lonnie Hamilton.