Rt. Rev. W. Blair Roberts, retired Episcopal bishop of South Dakota, enjoys a special distinction. At 80, the venerable churchman is the fourth oldest Anglican bishop in the Western Hemisphere. Bishop Roberts was born Dec. 10, 1881 in Detroit, the son of an Episcopal clergyman. He was graduated from Trinity College. Hartford, Conn. in 1905 and from Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Conn., in 1908.

In 1908 he came to South Dakota as a missionary in the Rosebud area. Except for a period of WWI service in France, he served in the Rosebud area until 1922, the year he was consecrated as a bishop.

His marriage to Meta K. Jackson took place on October 8, 1910 in Middletown Conn. Bishop and Mrs. Roberts have lived in Sioux Falls since 1922 and their home is at 2101 South First Avenue.

Eight years ago, upon reaching the church’s compulsory retirement age of 72, Bishop Roberts had plans for anything but idleness. He labored to establish the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, and became its vicar. To this day he takes part in regular services there."

Our parish all began with Bishop William Blair Roberts, the fifth Bishop of South Dakota.

In the Episcopal Church, the mandatory age for retirement is 72, so in 1954 when Bishop Roberts turned 72, he turned over the Diocese to his Coadjutor. Bishop Conrad Gesner. However, Bishop Roberts wasn’t ready to hang up his shoes yet. He’d long believed that Sioux Falls would grow to be a major city—and that growth would be to the southwest of Sioux Falls.

At the time, there were two Episcopal churches in the city, Calvary Cathedral and old St. Peter’s on north Cliff Avenue, which is now Holy Apostles.

Bishop Roberts began knocking on doors in the south end of town, and soon had a small nucleus of families who were willing to risk starting a new congregation. He got permission to hold services in the Benz Funeral Chapel on 37th Street and Minnesota Avenue (it is now a fire station). The congregation grew, and it became time to look ahead.

After purchasing the land, members were ready to start building, but there was no money to hire an architect, so Bishop Roberts and a few others drove to Worthington, Minnesota, where a new Episcopal church had just been built, with a big picture window overlooking a lake. They liked the looks of the church and they purchased the plans for $500.00 and began building in 1956.

Bishop Roberts remained as Vicar until he began to suffer a series of small strokes, and in 1959 the Rev. Michael Canfield was called as first Rector.

The Rev. Canfield resigned in 1962, and the Rev. Zeno Johnson from Arizona accepted a call as Rector. Bishop Roberts assisted with services as long as he could, but in April. 1964 he had a massive stroke and died. Rev. Johnson left Good Shepherd soon after Bishop Roberts’ death to return to Arizona. Then in 1964, The Reverend Robert W. Wright from Mankato became the Rector.

In the 1970’s many donations enabled us to begin the stained glass depiction of Christ the Good Shepherd in the Nave of the Church. This is still unfinished. February of 1977 witnessed the symbolic burning of the mortgage on the church, and it is now debt-free.

Rev. Robert Wright retired in 1982. He was followed by the Rev. Tom Campbell. Rev. Campbell left in 1982 and our next rector was the Rev. Tim Vann, who stayed until 1986. While he was here, the chancel and sanctuary were remodeled to achieve the more open and spacious effect.

After Rev. Tim Vann left in 1986, the Rev. Rol Hoverstock was our rector until he returned to Colorado in 1991. He gathered many of Bishop Roberts’ memorabilia and established the Bishop Roberts’ library in the lower level of the church."

In Ju1y of 1992 the Rev. Lee Schaefer arrived to be our seventh rector, he served as the rector until March of 1997.