The Rt. Rev. Ronald H. Haines, Bishop of Washington from 1990 to 2000, died March 21 at his home in Lancaster, Pa. He was 73.
 
A native of Wilmington, Del., Bishop Haines entered the ministry after a 10-year career in engineering. He spent most of his ordained ministry in the Diocese of Western North Carolina prior to his election as Bishop Suffragan of Washington in 1986. He was one of the founders of the Virginia and Carolina’s Small Church Conference, and he maintained an interest in small-church ministry even in retirement.
 
Bishop Haines was serving as bishop’s deputy of Western North Carolina with responsibility for congregational development, clergy deployment, program and budget when he was elected Bishop Suffragan of Washington. He was rector of St. Francis’ Church, Rutherfordton, N.C., from 1968 to 1981. Bishop Haines served briefly as an assistant at several parishes in the Diocese of New York for about a year after graduation from the General Theological Seminary in New York City in 1967.
 
After the sudden death of his predecessor, the Rt. Rev. John T. Walker, in 1989, Bishop Haines was elected Bishop of Washington in 1990. During his 10 years as diocesan, he streamlined the organization of the diocesan administrative center and restructured the way diocesan finances were managed. With assistance from diocesan leaders, Bishop Haines created new mission policies for the use of the diocese’s Ruth Gregory Soper Memorial Fund. He also enlarged upon a tradition in the Diocese of Washington of supporting and ordaining women and homosexual persons to the priesthood.
 
After retirement, Bishop Haines and his wife, Mary, moved to Lancaster, where he served the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania, first as interim rector of St. John’s Church, then as priest-in-charge of St. James’, both in Lancaster. For the past three years, Bishop Haines was priest-in-charge of St. Paul’s, Manheim. In retirement, he also continued to assist with confirmations and ordinations in the dioceses of Central Pennsylvania and Delaware.
 
Bishop Haines is survived by his wife, who has been in residential Alzheimer’s care for several years, as well as six children: Jennifer Haines Tozier of Advance, Pa., Alicia Haines Pearson and Ronald Gregory Haines, both of Tacoma, Wash., Thomas Jeffrey Haines of Kittery Point, Maine, Jonathan Andrew Haines of Portland, Ore., and Peter Joshua Haines of Rockville, Md.; 16 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at St. James’, Lancaster, on March 27. A memorial service and interment will be held at Washington National Cathedral at a date to be announced.
 
We invite your response to this article through a Letter to the Editor. Email your letter to tlc@livingchurch.org. Please include your name, city and state.
 
To find more news, feature articles, and commentary about the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion not available online, read The Living Church magazine each week.  Click here  to start your subscription.