Beloved Bishop Graham Walden will be farewelled at Dubbo on Friday.
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The Anglican Bishop of the Murray before his retirement, he died on November 27, aged 86.
Known to parishioners as ‘Bishop Graham’, his funeral service will be held on Friday morning at Holy Trinity Anglican Church.
Bishop Walden came to Anglican Diocese of Ballarat in 1970 as the Archdeacon of Ballarat and Vicar General.
He became Assistant Bishop in 1981, and served as the Bishop of Hamilton from 1981 to 1984.
He continued as Assistant Bishop based in Ballarat until 1989, when he was elected to be the second Bishop of The Murray.
In a statement, Bishop of Ballarat Garry Weatherill said his own pathway in the Anglican Church had personal involvement from Bishop Walden, who was revered for his kindness.
“Bishop Graham was a warm and generous man, who was loved by people wherever he served,” he said.
“His gentle smile, sharp intellect, his quick wit and his palpable goodness meant that he was admired and loved as a servant of his Master.
“In his last year as Bishop of the Murray he participated in my own consecration as a Bishop in St Peter’s Cathedral, Adelaide.”
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Bishop Walden worked as the Bishop of the Murray for 11 years, before retiring to Dubbo in 2001 with his wife Margaret.
His retirement was a period he used for writing, with his book Self-knowledge: a challenge published by Barton Books in April this year.
Bishop Walden told the Daily Liberal in 2011 he felt “a definite call to do something for God” from the age of 16.
“There was a possibility of journalism... or politics - but I think God saved me from that,” he said.
Bishop Walden was part of the Bush Brotherhood of the Good Shepherd, working as a priest in sparsely-settled rural districts in Australia including Gilgandra, Gulargambone and Tooraweenah.
“I think it meant a great deal to the people, that they had somebody to - the keynote word was listen,” he said.
“And as you listen, the clue as to how they themselves were seeing things and you may be able to help people in their understanding of their own lives and careers.”