The Reverend William (“Bill”) A. Wendt was an Episcopal parish priest in Washington, D.C., and a visionary leader who challenged both church and society to confront racial and social injustice, welcome women into the priesthood, and uplift those most in need. His life was defined by service.
A World War II fighter pilot before entering the priesthood, Rev. Wendt viewed ministry as a way of life, not just a profession. At General Seminary in New York, he joined the Urban Priest Group, a collective of seminarians committed to serving disenfranchised communities around the world. His activism was central to his life: in 1961 he rode freedom buses in Mississippi and, in 1965, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma. In 1969, he organized the first public reading of the names of the Vietnam War dead during an emergency national Episcopal convention.
Rev. Wendt served as Rector of St. Stephen and the Incarnation for 18 transformative years (1960–1978). Under his leadership, St. Stephen’s—already the first integrated Episcopal church in Washington—became a haven for justice and healing. When Dr. King was assassinated and riots broke out just a block away, St. Stephen’s held the first requiem Eucharist for Dr. King within hours of his death.
Rev. Wendt was known for being available at any hour to those who were struggling or dying. In the early 1970s, while visiting a friend with terminal cancer, he realized that even with extensive theological training, he felt unprepared to truly support people facing death. Seeking better answers, he took a sabbatical to study thanatology.
In 1977, Rev. Wendt and the Reverend Robert D. Herzog co-founded the St. Francis Burial and Counseling Society, Inc. This pioneering organization offered dignified, affordable alternatives to the costly and often unregulated funeral industry of the time. Their focus was simple but radical: center burial rites on the needs of dying individuals and their families. They even built and sold coffins—some designed as blanket chests or even wine racks!—to help people confront death with less fear and more humanity. Their philosophy: by normalizing conversations about death, we make dying and grieving less isolating.
The Society became the St. Francis Center in 1979, continuing Rev. Wendt’s groundbreaking work well before end-of-life care and grief support were widely discussed. In 1999, the organization was renamed the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing—honoring Bill’s vision and affirming the mission that guided him:
“No one should have to grieve alone.”
Rev. Wendt died on July 8, 2001, at the age of 81. His vision, courage, and compassion remain at the heart of the Wendt Center’s work today.
