By the grace of God and with the consent of the people, on behalf of the Rt. Rev.J. Scott Mayer, the Rt. Rev. J. Neil Alexander will ordain Ted Hamby Clarkson, Jr., to the Sacred Order of Deacons at 3 pm Friday, December 18, 2020, in All Saints’ Chapel, the University of the South, Sewanee, TN. Clarkson’s father, the Rev. Ted Clarkson, will be the preacher.
The ordination will be live streamed via Vimeo. Following the live stream, the ordination service will be posted on the Diocesan YouTube Channel and at Facebook.com/DioFW, where it will remain available for people to access any time they wish.
As is the custom at ordinations, the offering will be given to Clarkson’s discretionary fund. Here are the instructions from All Saints’, Fort Worth, for making a donation: A check can be mailed to All Saints, 5001 Crestline Road, Fort Worth, TX, 76107. Put “Ted Clarkson” in the memo line. Or you can text ASECFW and the amount you wish to give to 73256. Then select Benevolent from the drop down list. Example: To send $50, text ASECFW 50 to 73256, then select Benevolent from the drop down list.
Ted Hamby Clarkson, Jr., was born and reared in Augusta, Georgia. A life-long Episcopalian, he grew up in and around the Church of the Good Shepherd and the Episcopal Day School. Clarkson moved to Dallas, Texas for college and received a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in 2007.
After graduation, he stayed in Texas and worked in a variety of fields, including operations for an auction house and human resources for an international chain of restaurants. Clarkson was an active member of the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas where he served as a choir member, eucharistic visitor, vestry person, and chaplain to the rector search committee.
In 2015, he began working at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Fort Worth as the rector’s assistant and was promoted to Director of Children and Youth Ministries in 2017. In 2018, Clarkson was made a postulant for holy orders in the Diocese of Fort Worth and moved to Sewanee.
At the 2019 DuBose lectures, he received the Freeman Award for Merit for demonstrating academic excellence in his junior year. Clarkson is married to Michael (Mikey) Whitman who works as an account director for TracyLocke, a Dallas-based advertising agency.
He is the fifth Clarkson in three generations to attend the University of the South. His father (T’06) is a priest in the Diocese of Georgia. His grandfather, the Rev. Allen Clarkson (T’39), also received a Doctor of Divinity from the University of the South in 1971. Both of father’s brothers received their undergraduate degrees from the College.
Clarkson enjoys cooking and entertaining. His favorite thing is being an uncle to his nieces and nephews in Texas.