David Crossley, first assistant rector

The Rev. David E. Crossley, the first associate rector at St. Stephen’s Church here, died on Jan. 21 in Baltimore, Md., where he had been a rector for many years. He was 68 years old.
A native of Oakland, Calif., Mr. Crossley was born in 1934 and graduated from Witworth College in Spokane, Wash., majoring in English. He taught at a mission school near Santa Fe, N.M., for a year before enrolling at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1956.
He was ordained a presbyterian minister in 1959, and served churches in Larchmont and Port Chester, N.Y., and Bryn Mawr, Pa. While in Bryn Mawr, Mr. Crossley met an Episcopal chaplain from England who directed a campus ministry for students at Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore colleges. “David liked what he learned from this man and felt comfortable in the Episcopal church, so he decided to return to divinity school,” his wife, Florenz Stephenson Crossley, told The Baltimore Sun.
He attended the Church Divinity School of the Pacific at Berkeley, Calif., graduating in 1969. He became an Episcopal deacon the same year, and came to St. Stephen’s in July as a curate.
In 1970 at St. Stephen’s, he was ordained a priest.
“Mr. Crossley’s work with the church has been especially productive with the church school and the young people, and his relation with the entire parish has been one of warm acceptance,” wrote St. Stephen’s historian Robert F. Haight in 1975. “He and his wife gave impetus to the Saints and Sinners Club, which has helped the many newcomers to the parish get better acquainted with other members, and he founded the St. Anne Guild for the fellowship and Bible study for the young women of the parish.”
Mr. Crossley became associate rector, the parish’s first, on July 1, 1973.
“He was involved at St. Stephen’s at a time when there were a lot of young families moving into town,” said Ridgefielder Mary Ann Baldwin who with her husband, Randy, attended the funeral Saturday. “David and Flo brought a vibrance to the church that was wonderful and refreshing and made new people feel at home.”
She added that “people loved his sermons. They were very intellectual and challenged the listener to really give a great deal of thought to the points he was making.”
Mr. Crossley left Ridgefield in 1975 to become rector of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Roland Park, Md., just outside Baltimore.
“He was a very, very thoughtful and supportive person and highly respected in the diocese,” Randall S. Mullin, organist at St. David’s for 26 years, told The Sun.
When he was 32, Mr. Crossley was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, but kept working even when his health began to fail. He finally retired in 1996.
“I think of many things when I think of David, including his tremendous courage as he faced his medical problems,” Bishop Charles Lindsay Longest said in The Sun. “He never complained, nor did he want a pity party. He remained steady, capable and dependable.”
Besides his wife of 42 years, survivors include a son, Stephen D. Crossley of Los Angeles; a daughter, Dale P. Crossley of Baltimore; and a brother, the Rev. Jack P. Crossley of Los Angeles.
A memorial service took place Saturday, Jan. 25, in the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation, 4 East University Parkway, Baltimore, MD 21218.
Contributions in his memory may be made to the Episcopal Community Services of Maryland, in care of the cathedral.