Marshall R. Reed

Marshall R. Reed

15 September 1891 - 1 March 1973
Bishop: 1948-1964


Bishop Marshall R. Reed

Marshall Russell Reed was born September fifteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety one to Fred Pitt Reed and Elsie Russell Reed near Onsted, Michigan and died March 1, 1973. His grandfather had migrated from Western New York State and had settled in Lenawee County. His family attended the Prospect Hill Methodist Church. He graduated from Tecumseh High School in 1910 and enrolled in Albion College where he was active on the football team and in the literary societies. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After graduation in 1914, he enrolled in Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, New Jersey. After one year, he transferred to Garrett Biblical Institute on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he finished his theological training and earned a Master's degree. While at the University he met Mary Esther Kirkendall of West Burlington, Iowa, and they were married on May 14, 1917. To them were born three daughters: Elizabeth Jane (Mrs. Allan Gray of Tecumseh), Elsie Mae (Mrs. John Ferentz of Pittsburg) and Mary Louise (Mrs. William Ives of Birmingham). They returned to Michigan after graduation and accepted appointment in the Detroit Annual Conference which he had joined on trial in 1915. At the session in 1917, held at Court Street Flint, he was received into full connection and ordained elder by Bishop Frederick Leete. The churches served were Gaines 1917, Onaway 1918, Redford 1919-1923, Detroit: Jefferson Avenue 1923-1928, Ypsilanti 1928-1934, Detroit: Nardin Park 1934-1948. At both Jefferson Avenue and Nardin Park, sanctuaries were built during his ministry. His pastoral ministry of twenty nine years bore heavy duties of responsibility to the Annual Conference and general church. At one time or another he was trustee of its many institutions. He was especially active in the Boards of Ministerial Training and Education. He was awarded honorary degrees by Adrian College, Albion College and Northwestern University all of which he had served as Trustee. He helped to found the Area Pastors School in 1922 and served as its Dean for many years. After becoming Bishop, he became the School Preacher. In 1937, he gave his first lectures at Bay View Summer Assembly and was on their program for over twenty-five years. He was first elected to General Conference in 1932 and was sent to every Conference until 1948, heading the delegations in 1944 and 1948. He was a life member of the Masonic Order. He also was a member of Detroit Commandry Number 1. One outside interest he cherished and cultivated through the years was his membership in Kiwanis. First joining while in Ypsilanti he transferred his membership to the Northwest Detroit Club in 1934. During 1940 he served as Governor of Michigan District and continued his interest serving on the Council of Past Governors. At the Jurisdictional Conference on 1948 held in Indianapolis, he was elected Bishop on the fifth ballot and assigned to serve the Michigan Area where he continued his presidential duties until retiring in 1964. The unique opportunity to remain in his beloved Michigan among the people and churches he knew so well allowed him to continue the same interests he had developed while in the pastorate. The following year he conducted his first session of the Detroit Conference in Court Street Church, Flint where he had been ordained thirty-two years before. He continued his interest in the Pastors' School. Now no longer able to serve as Dean, he became the School Preacher each year and brought a new series of sermons each year. Every sermon he has ever preached is still in his files with the dates and places of delivery. He organized the state-wide meetings of Methodist Laymen each April at M.S.U. His administration was set in a time of expanding economy where many churches were being remodeled or built new. He presided at dedications and consecrations, oftentimes at the rate of three of four a Sunday. One of his great achievements was the creation and building of University Church in East Lansing to serve the burgeoning Michigan State University community. The General Church soon recognized his administrative ability and called upon him to serve in many capacities. He was chairman of the Division of National Missions, Chairman of the Board of Pensions, member of the Board of Publication. In 1962 he was elected to the highest office Methodism can bestow, President of the Council of Bishops. Three times Bisop and Mrs. Reed went overseas in the name of the Church. Their travels took them to Chile, Southeast Asia, India, Europe, and North Africa. He was conducting Annual Conference in Honolulu when Hawaii was made a state. He had offered prayer before the Territorial legislature just two days before. Three other oversea assignments were turned down because of the press of work in Michigan. In 1940, the Reeds had purchased a home in Onsted together with 34 acres of adjacent farmland. It was to this home they retired in 1964.

- Detroit Annual Conference minutes of 1973, pp. 776-777

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