The Rev. Standrod T. Carmichael

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, August 23, 2011

MARIETTA, Ga. — The Rev. Standrod Tucker Carmichael, eldest son of Henry St. George Tucker Carmichael I and Lalla Rookh Standrod and devoted husband of Marietta Wanless Carmichael, died Aug. 7, 2011, in Atlanta of congestive heart failure.

He was born in 1924 and grew up in a mining town in rural Kentucky. He graduated from Washington & Lee University in 1947, received his S.T.M. from the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Mass., and was later ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1953. He received his M.A. in English from Middlebury College. He dedicated his life to the work of the church and the business of the people. He was Canon Missioner at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis, where he wrote a jazz Mass. He was a beloved teacher, coach, thespian, school bus driver, priest and civil rights activist in Chicago, employed by both Morgan Park Academy and the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. He returned to his Southern roots in 1983, taking a mission church, Church of the Good Shepherd, in Galax, Va. His life there was the most fulfilling of all. He was the chaplain of the Twin Counties Regional Hospital, founder with his wife of the New River Opera Company and the Highland Camerata, counselor at the Life Center and the battered women’s shelter, founder of the Hostel of the Good Shepherd for the homeless, a member of the board of several area institutions, a tenor in the barbershop quartet and Santa Claus for area children. In recognition of his work, the mayor declared June 30, 1991, to be Standrod T. Carmichael Day. He was not the retiring type and so continued to supply priesting in the depressed mountain areas of both Virginia and North Carolina, sometimes payment for which was room and board. His shepherding didn’t stop with his move to Atlanta. He was unofficial counselor and Bible scholar to his fellow residents and forged close relationships with many there. He was the great-grandson and grand nephew of two deans of law at Washington & Lee University, John Randolph Tucker and Henry St. George Tucker. His grandfather, John Carmichael, taught at VMI. Both another Henry St. George Tucker, the 19th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, and F. Bland Tucker, priest and prolific hymn author, are in the lineage as well.

Services are not finalized at this time. SouthCare Cremation Society and Memorial Centers is in charge of arrangements.

Survivors include two daughters, Ellen Wilson of Atlanta and Meg Garry of Connecticut; two sons, Jess Stacy of Minneapolis and Jim Carmichael of Chicago; nephews, John Carmichael of Dallas, Chris Carmichael of Bowling Green, Ky., Henry St. George Tucker Carmichael III of Lexington, Va.; nine grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.