The Rt. Rev. Robert Jefferson Hargrove, retired Bishop of Western Louisiana, died May 19 at his home in Pineville, La., after a long illness. He was 67.

Bishop Hargrove was a native of Paducah, Ky. A graduate of Georgetown College (Ky.), he was active in the college’s a cappella choir. Another member of that group was Linda Sprankle, whom Bishop Hargrove married in 1957.

The Hargroves moved to the Kansas City area, where he studied at Central Baptist Theological Seminary and pastored DeSoto Baptist Church in DeSoto, Kan. He received his degree from Central Theological Seminary in 1965.

“It was during this period that we discovered the Episcopal Church,” said Bishop Hargrove in a 1989 interview. “We were ‘secretly’ confirmed (that is, without the knowledge of those in DeSoto) at the Episcopal cathedral in Topeka before my last Sunday, when my final act at DeSoto Baptist Church was to baptize 25 people in the Kaw River. After that Linda and I loaded our belongings into a borrowed truck, and moved to Evanston, Ill., where I began my studies at Seabury Western Seminary. It was the beginning of a whole new phase of our lives,” he recalled.

Ordained a deacon and priest in 1967, he began ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church as assistant to the dean of Trinity Cathedral in Davenport, Iowa. He served in West Palm Beach, Fla., before becoming rector of St. Andrew’s, Grand Prairie, Texas, in the Diocese of Dallas. He later was named canon to the ordinary in that diocese.

The Hargroves’ next call was to Grace Church, Madison, in the Diocese of Milwaukee, where he served from 1976 to 1980. In that year, the Hargroves went to Grace Church in Monroe in the Diocese of Western Louisiana, and in 1987, he become rector of Church of the Ascension in Lafayette. He was elected Bishop Coadjutor of Western Louisiana and consecrated bishop in 1989, and was installed as diocesan in 1990 upon the retirement of the Rt. Rev. Willis Henton, the first Bishop of Western Louisiana.

Bishop Hargrove’s episcopacy encompassed years of upheaval in the Church, but a major part of his legacy involves the strengthening of diocesan ministries. He was a strong supporter of expanded programs for youth. His efforts to help the poor and disadvantaged resulted in the establishment of The Delta Ministry centered in Waterproof, serving northeast Louisiana parishes abutting the Mississippi River. The Bishop’s School for Ministry, for those with a call to expanded ministry in their lives, took root and flourished under Bishop Hargrove’s tutelage. Programs that emphasized and strengthened women’s ministries were also encouraged.

Bishop Hargrove’s June 2001 call for a coadjutor was followed by the election of the Rt. Rev. D. Bruce MacPherson the following spring. Bishop Hargrove retired Nov. 1, 2002.

He is survived by his wife, Linda; three sons, Robert J. III, of Simi Valley, Calif., Timothy, of Mandeville, La., and Jonathan, of Longmont, Colo.; four grandchildren; his mother, Mildred Hargrove Divine, of Phoenix, Ariz.; and brothers, Dr. Terry K. Hargrove, of Tucson, Ariz., and Roger T. Hargrove of Phoenix.

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