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TV 17.org - Rev Richard W. Ingalls | |||||||
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Edmund Fitzgerald |
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Date 8-24-06 The Rev. Richard W. Ingalls, a longtime minister at Mariners' Church of Detroit who led annual bell-ringing memorials for the 29 men who died in the 1975 sinking of the Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald has died. He was 79. Ingalls died April 24, 2006 after complications from a stroke at Bon Secours Hospital in Grosse Pointe. He was the longtime bishop-in-residence and rector emeritus at the stone church along the Detroit River, where thousands of tons of Great Lakes cargo pass each year. On Nov. 10, 1975, the 729-foot iron ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a storm. The next morning, Ingalls rang the church bell 29 times, once for each victim. His action was memorialized in Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot's song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." Ingalls also created an annual memorial service for the victims, with the ringing of the bell. "Even though the song brought much attention to the church, my father's primary concern always focused on the spiritual comfort of the families who lost loved ones," said his son, the Rev. Richard W. Ingalls Jr., who became rector of the independent Anglican church in January. "He wanted the attention focused on where it should be: the danger on the Great Lakes, the sacrifices made by countless families and how vital the commerce on the lakes is," the son told the Detroit Free Press for a story published Friday. The Grosse Pointe Park resident was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa. He earned a bachelor's degree from Olivet College in Illinois and studied at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary also in Illinois and St. Luke's University of the South in Tennessee. Ingalls became rector of Mariners' Church in 1965. "The best way to describe him is a very charismatic person — a true presence. When he came into a room, people were drawn to him," church trustee Brit Gordon told The Detroit News. Survivors include wife Wilma, sons Richard and Brian, daughters Anne Gillespie and Bette Wisniowiecki, five grandchildren, four brothers and four sisters. We will miss you:
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