The Very Rev. Dr. Samuel T. Lloyd III of Sewanee, Tennessee, died on August 31, 2022, surrounded by family at his daughter's home in Nashville. The service was held seven days later on the gentle autumn afternoon of Wednesday, September 7 at All Saints' Chapel. The congregation processed to the burial which took place in the University Cemetery.
Samuel was born in Brookhaven, MS to Marie Anne Spivey and Samuel Thames Lloyd, Jr. Sam's father's Air Force legal career took the family to various cities, including London, Washington, and San Antonio, and he completed his high school years in Canton, MS. Sam attended the University of Mississippi for his B.A. and after completing ROTC, he served as a personnel officer in the Air Force during the last years of the Vietnam war.
During his posting at a radar station on the eastern shore of Virginia and a post in Alexandria, VA, he set for himself a reading discipline, including Dante, Dostoevsky, and especially the New Testament, that led to his completing a Master's degree in English literature at Georgetown University. He subsequently completed a Ph.D. in English at the University of Virginia and ultimately a Master of Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, where he found his true vocation as an Episcopal priest.
In his ordained ministry of almost forty years, Sam served as an Asst. Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, teaching courses in religion and literature (1981-84); Assistant to the Rector and Chaplain at St. Paul's Memorial Church in Charlottesville, VA (1981-84); Rector of St. Paul and the Redeemer, in Hyde Park, Chicago, IL (1984-88); University Chaplain at the University of the South, in Sewanee, TN (1988-93), Rector of Trinity Church in Boston, MA (1993- 2005) and (2011-2017); and Dean of Washington National Cathedral, Washington, DC (2005-11).
Sam was a man of spacious vision and a deep, abiding love of God. As a preacher, teacher, and pastor, he premised his ministry on a generous spirited, open minded, intellectually alive Christian faith. As he put it in a collection of sermons, called Soundings, he sought to use the weight of word, image, and story to probe the depths of human lives and point to the transformational power of the mysterious Love at the heart of the universe.
Sam is survived by his wife of 46 years, Marguerite; his daughter, Cooper, (fiancé Peter) of Nashville, TN; his son, Gabriel (Kelly) of Clarksville, TN; his sisters, Aletha Burge (Curt) of Gulfport, MS; Lucy Lloyd of Gulfport, MS; Ruth Bishop (Wade) of Gulfport, MS; Susan Lloyd Stokes of Clemson, SC: his brother, Lewis Lloyd (Liz) of Mountain View, AR; and many other devoted relatives.
As a commendation in a recent honorary degree expressed: "Through [his] recent illness, [Sam's] faith continues to preach itself with characteristic humility and strength, bearing witness as eloquently as [his] renowned sermons.
Memorial contributions may be made to the School of Theology at the University of the South, 335 Tennessee Avenue, Sewanee, TN 37383; Virginia Theological Seminary, 3737 Seminary Road, Alexandria, VA 22304; or Trinity Church, 206 Clarendon Street, Boston, MA 02116.
