CUSHMAN, RALPH SPAULDING (1879-1960), bishop,was born at Poultney, Vt., Nov. 12, 1879, the son of Earl Allerton and Nellie (Honey) Cushman. Educated at Troy Conference Academy, Poultney (1898), and WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY (Ph.B., 1902), he did graduate study in Edinburgh and London in 1910, and later received the D.D. and LL.D. from Wesleyan and the Litt.D. from Hamline. He married Maude Hammond, Aug.20, 1902, and they had two children, Mabel Elizabeth (Mrs. Insley J. Stiles) and ROBERT EARL. Though Cushrnan's father and grandfather were Congregational ministers, he joined the NEW ENGLAND CONFERENCE, M. E. Church, in 1903, and was ordained DEACON in 1904, and elder in 1907.

His appointments were: Bryantville, Mass., 1902-04, Acushnet, Mass., 1904-06; Danielson, Conn., 1906-11; St. Paul's, Fall River, Mass., 1911-15; Court Street, Flint, Mich., 1915 (four months); Geneva, N. Y., 1915-17; executive secretary, stewardship campaign, Centenary Commission, 1917-19; stewardship secretary, Interchurch World Movement, 1919-20; Asbury, Rochester, N. Y., 1920-32. He was a delegate to the 1928 and 1932 GENERAL CONFERENCES, and was elected bishop at the latter. His episcopal assignments were: the Denver Area, 1932-39, and the Minnesota Area, 1939-52. Cushman was chairman of the commission on evangelism, 1932-39, and president of the Anti-Saloon League of America, 1939-48. He served as a member of the WORLD SERVICE COMMISSION, as president of the board of trustees of ILIFF SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY, and as a trustee of DENVER UNIVERSITY, HAMLINE UNIVERSITY, LAWRENCE COLLEGE, Wesley College (Grand Forks, North Dakota), and DAKOTA WESLEYAN. An author and poet, Cushman wrote some twenty-five books on the subjects of evangelism, stewardship, and prayer, including Hilltop Verses and Prayers, Practicing the Presence-A Quest for God, Tile Afessage of Stewardship, and The Essentials of Evangelism. At the UNITING CONFERENCE, Gushman and Bishop C. C. SELEGMAN supervised the morning watch and the evangelistic services. Retiring in 1952, Cushman lived for a time at Raleigh, N. C. Bishop HERBERT WELCH said, "Bishop Cushman was a poet and recognized \writer of religious meditations and prayers, and was markedly evangelistic in his activities." He died at Herkimer, N. Y.,Aug.10, 1960, and was buried at Manchester. Vt.

POEMS BY RALPH CUSHMAN

 

Set us afire, Lord,

Stir us, we pray!

While the world perishes

We go our way,

Purposeless, passionless,

Day after day.

Set us afire, Lord,

Stir us, we pray!

Ralph Spaulding Cushman