History of St. Thomas

The story of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Huntsville, Alabama is a story of a community of people gathered together in the love of God, called to worship in times of joy and crisis.  It began in 1958 when seventy-some people assembled in a concrete block building on Bob Wallace Avenue, purchased from First Christian Church.  The Rev. Edsel Keith was our vicar and first rector, serving from 1958 to 1967.  In January 1963 we were admitted to the Diocese of Alabama as a parish.

In 1964 more Christian education classrooms and a parish hall were built.  In 1967 the Rev. Harry Pritchett arrived to shepherd us through a creative and innovative time.  The Rev. Daryl Canfill followed in 1976 and brought with him a distinct sense of liturgy and art.

He was ably succeeded in 1985 by the Rev. Bill Hudson.  That's whe we learned that the Diocese planned a new parish in southeast Huntsville, and Bishop Stough informed us that we "could either be that church or compete with it."  We had run out of room to grow on Bob Wallace, and so we moved, over the course of more than a year, to our present location on Bailey Cove Road.  Our first priority was worship, and so our sanctuary was the first thing we built. 

Our first service in our new church was on Easter Sunday of 1987, before the building was complete, with a makeshift altar set against the rising sun on Green Mountain.

We grew incredibly fast in those first years on Bailey Cove.  We added our parish hall in 1989 and planned a new Christian education wing.  Then Bill Hudson, just 46 years old, died suddenly and unexpectedly on Father's Day 1992.  He died the day before the vestry was set to approve the building of the new wing.  Bill's death was a terrible blow, but we carried on in faith and hope.  With strong lay leadership we built the new wing over the course of the next year while we simultaneously grieved and sought a new rector.  We dedicated Hudson Hall in Bill's honor in 1993.

In August 1993 the Rev. Kee Sloan became the fifth rector of St. Thomas.  Under his guidance we started our long term love affair with Honduras and Habitat for Humanity, fueled by lobsters.  We began Special Session at Camp McDowell in 1998.

In 2002 we built again; this time it was Hiers Hall, in honor of Evelyn Hiers, our 30-plus year volunteer treasurer.  We expanded our kitchen to better accommodate Lobsterfest and a parish family that likes to eat.  In 2003 we hosted the 172nd Convention of the Diocese of Alabama.  We had successful Lobsterfests year after year after year which enabled missions to Honduras and many Habitat houses.  These were very good times at St. Thomas and we grew to be the 14th largest church in the diocese.

With great pride--and more than a little sadness--we watched as our beloved Kee was elected Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Alabama in 2007. This gentle giant of a man stayed with us 14 years, longer than any of our other rectors, and he left an indelible mark on our hearts.  We miss him to this day.  

In 2008 we celebrate our 50th anniversary.  We have come a long way from that little concrete block church on Bob Wallace Avenue.  We have a vibrant outreach program that defines us, a beautiful church campus that is debt free, and we have become the Alabama church that launched a bishop.  Today we find ourselves once again in a state of transition.  We look toward the future with great hope, but also with more than a little anxiety: what is next for us?  As we seek our sixth rector, we move ahead as we always have: with faith, hope and trust that God will show us the way.