The memorial service for The Rev. David Storm will be on Friday, April 1, 2016 at 1:00 pm at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Port Angeles, WA.
The Rev. Stephanie Parker is looking into hiring a bus for transport. If you are interested, please sign up on the clipboard in the Narthex of the church. A public graveside service at Lake View Cemetery is Saturday April 2, at 11:00am.
The Rev. David Anderson Storm
1928-2016
Born: 2/3/1928 in Seattle , WA
Son of: Jerome Richard Storm and Dorothy Rachel Storm
Education: Broadway High School, Seattle, 1946; BA Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA, 1950;
M Div, Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, VA, 1965
Confirmed in the Episcopal Church, Christmas 1961 at Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Spokane, WA
Ordained to the Diaconate: 6/20/1965; Ordained to the Priesthood: 6/24/1966
Business Background:
1950-1958 Department Manager, J.C. Penney Co., Seattle, WA
1958-1962 Credit Manager, Volker Co., Spokane, WA
Service:
1965-1967 Assistant/Curate, St. Stephen Episcopal Church, Spokane, WA
1967-1972 Vicar, St. Hilda-St. Patrick Episcopal Church, Edmonds, WA
1972-1993 Rector, St. Andrew Episcopal Church, Port Angeles, WA
1974-1980 Diocesan Evaluation Committee, Diocese of Olympia
1974-1990 Training and Consulting Services (TACS), Diocese of Olympia
1978-1982 Diocesan Council, Diocese of Olympia
1993 Retired
1995-2016 Assisting Priest, St. Stephen, Seattle
Other:
1962 Spent 5 months traveling in Europe and the near East. Visited 22 countries during that time.
David Storm went into the ministry after a career in business. While working in Spokane for the Volker Company, at one time the largest wholesale distributor of home furnishings in the country, he started attending the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist and was confirmed there at Christmas 1961. The Very Rev. Richard Coombs, Dean of the Cathedral wrote that, “David was one of our boys who went into the ministry…He graduated from the Virginia Seminary, and went to St. Stephen’s as curate following his ordination.” When St. Stephen’s, Spokane could no longer support a curate, Dean Coombs suggested that David contact “near-by” bishops about employment. One of these “near-by” bishops, Bishop Ivol Ira Curtis of Olympia responded and soon David was on his way back to the Seattle area with an appointment as Vicar at St. Hilda, Meadowdale (now St. Hilda-St. Patrick, Edmonds). St. Hilda’s had only been formed a few years before and shortly after his arrival, St. Hilda’s and St. Patrick’s, Eastmont began share David’s ministry and eventually formed one congregation. After his first visit to Meadowdale,
David wrote,
I had an exciting albeit confusing ride through the Meadowdale area yesterday. The best characterization of the area would be people to people – like wall to wall carpeting. The area seems to have no focal center except the schools so St. Hilda’s (I found a sign on a tree pointing in a nebulous direction with that name on it) meeting there is a good thing. Growth – and rapid at that – would seem to be the order of the day for the area and for the church…
David served at St. Hilda’s-St. Patrick’s for 5 years during which time ground was broken for a new church building. In September 1972, he wrote to his congregation telling them of his acceptance of a call to St. Andrew, Port Angeles, The writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes rightly says that there is a time and a place for all things. I don’t recall that he says how one deals with such changes in terms of your own feelings…I have been privileged to be a part of your lives as you have been of mine. While I will no longer be your priest, I can still be your friend and I do wish well for each of you… This sentiment is typical of David Storm as he was and is often described as a good friend. In a variety of letters he’s described as ‘amiable and likable,’ ‘ready to build friendships across denominational lines,’ ‘a most likable and engaging person, open, interested, always ready to engage with people..’ and ‘very kind, a gentle man, and a gentleman.’
Fr. Storm served 21 years at St. Andrew’s where he exhibited the qualities of caring and friendship referred to throughout his career. A conscientious priest and a good administrator – responsible in the matter of expending church funds, he felt that, the Lord’s money must be spent wisely at all times. One parish secretary remarked that this was a ‘comment he makes with sufficient regularity that it might be considered a by-word with him.’
Arriving in Port Angeles on the heels of the Rev. Walter McNeil, Jr., who left to become Archdeacon for the diocese, David had some big shoes to fill. As a new church building had just been completed, he and the congregation could concentrate on pastoral concerns and community outreach – as well as continued development of the church facilities.
In 1983, Fr. Storm suggested an idea to the Port Angeles city council to establish a fund to help people in need pay utility bills. The idea called for those who were able and willing, to contribute money to a fund that would help people truly in distress and unable to pay their bills. A utility relief fund was subsequently established. He also served on the local committee responsible for allocating federal aid funds to those in need of shelter and food.
During his tenure at St. Andrew’s the new Coulter organ was installed and a memorial garden was also established.
Fr. Storm was also active in the diocese serving on the Diocesan Evaluation Committee, tasked with the responsibility of evaluating the effectiveness of diocesan programs, Diocesan Council and as a member of TACS, the diocese’s Training and Consulting Services, with which he served as a senior trainer focusing on leadership development and organizational skills.
Though David retired from St. Andrew’s in 1993, he continued to occasionally officiate there and was also soon at work again as Assisting Priest at St. Stephen’s, Seattle – where he continued his ministry.
He will be missed!