HILLSPEAKING
from The Anglican Digest
WHITSUNTIDE A.D. 2002

THIRTY years is a long time.  For The Anglican Digest, it is a span of time that has seen five editors at its helm.

The first editor, and its founder, was Howard Lane Foland (1908-1989).  A native of Kansas, ordained in 1941 and at the time of his starting the Episcopal Book Club (1953) and The Anglican Digest (1958) rector of All Saints', Nevada, Missouri, Father Foland held the editorship until his retirement at Hillspeak in 1980.

From 1980 until 1984, the editor was James Beasley Simpson, a native of Arkansas who was ordained in 1967 and just prior to his returning to Arkansas, rector of Christ Church, Middletown, New Jersey.  Father Simpson added color covers to the little magazine and increased its frequency from quarterly to bi-monthly.

Father Simpson was succeeded by Gene Curtis Pruett, a Texan and TAD's first and only lay editor.  Mr Pruett had been active in lay ministry and was living close by Hillspeak at the time of his appointment.  He edited TAD until 1986 when he resigned to return to his former activities.

In 1986 another native of Arkansas, Cecil Frederick Barbee, ordained in 1976 and during his curacy at St Paul's, Fayetteville, Arkansas, a frequent visitor to Hillspeak, took the post.  Father Barbee was, at the time, associate rector of St Michael's and St George's, St Louis.  During his fifteen-year tenure as editor of TAD, he brought the magazine into the 21st century and increased its size from 48 to 64 pages.

Each of those editors brought his own unique talents and personality to TAD so that the current editor, Kendall Harmon (see the Lent 2002 issue), has inherited a small, in size, but large in influence, "miscellany reflecting the words and work of the faithful throughout the Anglican Communion" that is now entering its 44th year of publication.

God willing, the next thirty years will see Hillspeak and The Anglican Digest and its editors still "reflecting."