IN a peaceful state of prayer in which he so often found solace, The Reverend Fr Ian Lipscomb slipped quietly away on Tuesday. By his side, Dean of St Saviour’s Cathedral Phillip Saunders and the Reverend Gail Stevenson recited prayers and delivered comfort.
“When they stopped, he told them to keep going,” The Rev’d Lipscomb’s daughter Gaby told the Post. “He was pain free and his mind was with it. It was very serene and he would have been so pleased with the way he went.” Rev’d Lipscomb, a leading light in the St Saviour’s Anglican clergy and community, passed away at Bourke St Health Service on Tuesday. He was 82. For the past two years he had suffered pancreatic cancer.
Dean Saunders praised his friend’s fine qualities. “It was his wisdom, his spiritual strength, his wicked sense of humour and his love of humanity,” he said yesterday.
“He was a much appreciated spiritual director of many clergy and lay people.”
Dean Saunders described Rev’d Lipscomb and his late wife, Elizabeth as shining lights in the St Saviour’s community.
As a very much loved team they had worked tirelessly to secure funding for the belltower. Rev’d Lipscomb was ordained a priest in London in 1964 and served as curate in Feltham, London from 1963 to 1965.
He was appointed assistant priest at Wangaratta from 1965-67 and in 1968 was made presentor organist at Saviour’s Cathedral, starting a long association.
Rev’d Lipscomb served as assistant priest from 1983 to 1986, and was rector of Batemans Bay (1987-90) and Braidwood (1990-94). He continued his links with St Saviour’s even after officially retiring from fulltime ministry.
“His faith was everything,” Gaby Lipscomb told the Post.
“He had the most incredible library of theological books. He couldn’t abide people who pretended to be Christian but had completely lost sight of the reasons because they’d become completely obsessed with power. He thought they didn’t understand what real power was.”
Born in A n n a n d a l e , Sydney, the son of a legal secretary and a commissioner of stamp duties, Ian was raised a Methodist at Normanhurst, when as he’d say, Pennant Hills Rd was “just a goat track.”
Poised near the headwaters of the Lane Cove River, his home and the extensive garden his father created made for rich adventure. He was educated at Peter Rabbit kindergarten, Normanhurst Primary School and Homebush Boys High, a selective school which sparked his thirst for education.
“His avoidance mechanism for sport was to volunteer as a referee,” Gaby said. At age 14 he learnt piano and organ at St Paul’s Anglican Church, Wahroonga, starting a lifelong love of music which also saw him study piano at Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music. Shunning the law career his mother wanted for him, Ian attended Sydney Teachers College where he met Elizabeth. They married in 1954 and she introduced him to bellringing at St Jude’s, Randwick.
During teaching appointments in the Hunter Valley, the couple endured the 1953 Maitland floods. “They were highly involved in search and rescue at the time as their house was on higher ground,” Gaby said.
Their first born – Michael – was born at Maitland in 1955. Two years later they set sail for England. After a short stint teaching in Bedforshire, Ian felt the calling to the Anglican priesthood and undertook theological training at Somerset. Gaby was born during his first appointment to Feltham, a challenging parish in west London.
Tired of the wet weather, the couple returned to Australia on a Dutch/German immigrant ship and so began a series of country parish appointments.
His association with St Saviour’s started in the late 1960s as presentor in charge of music and as organist. There were many strings to Rev’d Lipscomb’s bow.
He broke his ministry in 1972 with another teaching stint, this time at Goulburn High School where he taught history, English, French, German and music.
He returned to the “fold” in the early 1980s. Seeking greater stimulation, from 2001-2009 he became a consumer advocate for Goulburn’s mental health facilities.
“His capacity to absorb information, the Mental Health Act, policy, procedures and indeed mental illness details in a short space of time was incredible,” Gaby said.
“…If he saw anyone in trouble, no matter what circumstances, if they needed help he would give it to them at any time – night or day. He was fearless in standing up for patients who needed assistance with magistrates.”
He loved languages, words and their derivation and fed his hunger for education until the last. In 2006 the couple endured the loss of their son, Michael, to cancer and two years later, Liz passed away after more than 50 years’ marriage.
Illness has plagued Rev’d Lipscomb since his wife’s death. Gaby says he’s the only person she knows who actually enjoyed his chemotherapy, “giving cheek” along the way.
“He was my best mate over the last three years,” she said.
“We were always close and teased each other mercilessly. He was a holy man with a bright persona and I’m just so in awe of him.” Rev’d Lipscomb is also survived by his daughter-inlaw Margie Lipscomb and grandchildren Andrew and Emma.
Bishop Stuart Robinson will officiate at a Solemn Requiem Eucharist at St Saviour’s Cathedral 10am Monday with Bishop George Browning and clergy assisting. Rev’d Lipscomb’s and Elizabeth’s ashes will be interred outside the belltower.
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