Wayne Kenton Clymer Papers

Wayne Clymer (1917-2013), minister, bishop, educator, and psychologist, was born in Napoleon, Ohio, on September 24, 1917, son of Grace Susan Hulvey and George A. Clymer, a minister in the Evangelical Church. Clymer attended Asbury College, receiving his B. A. in 1939. In the fall of that year he entered Columbia University, and while attending there he became pastor of Immanuel Evangelical Church in Ozone Park, New York, and then St. Paul's Evangelical Church in Forest Hills. He completed his M.A. in 1942. Clymer went on to receive a B.D. from Union Theological Seminary in 1944.

In 1946, Clymer was appointed to the faculty of Evangelical Theological Seminary (ETS) as professor of pastoral theology. While there, he continued his graduate studies toward a Ph.D. at New York University, receiving his degree in 1950.

Clymer was ordained by Evangelical United Brethren Bishop John S. Stamm, and was a member of the Atlantic Conference. He went on to post-doctoral work at the New School for Social Research, Columbia University, the William Alanson White School for Psychiatry, and took clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Saint Luke's Hospital in New York City. In 1957 Clymer was elected dean of ETS, succeeding Paul Eller. In 1967 he was he was chosen as President.

Clymer was ordained by Evangelical United Brethren Bishop John S. Stamm, and was a member of the Atlantic Conference. He went on to post-doctoral work at the New School for Social Research, Columbia University, the William Alanson White School for Psychiatry, and took clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Saint Luke's Hospital in New York City. In 1957 Clymer was elected dean of ETS, succeeding Paul Eller. In 1967 he was he was chosen as President. The year prior, 1966-1967, Clymer and his wife lived overseas where he served as consultant to the United Church of Christ in the Philippines on ministerial training, and taught at both Saint Andrew's Theological Seminary in Manila and at Trinity College in Singapore.

The North Central Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church elected Wayne Clymer to the episcopacy in 1972, and he was assigned to the Minnesota Area, where he served for eight years before being assigned to the Iowa Area in 1980. In 1976, Clymer was appointed president of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Clymer traveled extensively during his tenure as bishop, visiting countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Clymer and his wife retired to Minnesota in 1984. Bishop Clymer died from a stroke on November 25, 2013, while delivering a eulogy at Brooklyn Center United Methodist Church in Minnesota.