HISTORY
Land Acknowledgement
We gather regularly on the unceded land of the Lekawe Rockaway peoples. We acknowledge the Lekawe Rockaway community, their elders both past and present, as well as future generations.
Honoring Our Clergy
St. Thomas’ Church of Bellerose came into being in the year of 1927 when the Rev. Ernest Van R. Stires, one of the sons of the Right Rev. Ernest Milmore Stires, then Bishop of Long Island, organized the congregation as a mission.
When the Reverend Mr. Stires left S. Thomas’ for other fields, he was succeeded by the Reverend B.F. Root, who, after a brief time was in turn succeeded by the Reverend William R. Otto. Later in that year of 1931 the Reverend Rockland T. Homans became the third clergyman to serve at St. Thomas’ within the year.
In January 1932, The Reverend John Williams, Jr. was appointed Priest-in-Charge and the church began a period of growth along with the communities of Bellerose and Floral Park. In March of 1938 St. Thomas’ Mission, having been self-supporting in all respects, was incorporated as a parish. The Reverend Williams was elected Rector by the newly elected Wardens and Vestry. St. Thomas’ was admitted into union with the Diocese as a full Parish at the Diocesan Convention in May 1938.
Thanksgiving Day 1938, a new Rector, Johnathan G. Sherman, held his first service. On October 12, 1948 that same Rector, the Reverend Jonathan G. Sherman, was elected Suffragan Bishop of Long Island and was Consecrated on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 1949.
The Reverend Clifford E. Nobes was elected Rector of the Parish and assumed his duties on July first 1949. The Reverend Richard V. Jacobs came to the Parish on July 1, 1951 after the Rev. Nobes relocated to California. The sudden death of the Rev. Jacobs in July 1966 left St. Thomas’ without a Rector until August 1967 when the Reverend Gary Cooper assumed his duties, assisted by the Reverend J.M. Crothers. In mid-1968 the Reverend Cooper resigned and returned to his former parish. On Thanksgiving Day 1968, the Reverend Bayard C. Carmiencke was installed as Rector of St. Thomas’. When the Reverend Carmiencke left in December 1979, St. Thomas’ hired a part time Priest, the Reverend George B. Anderson, who remained for 14 years.
In November 1994, St. Thomas’ joined a new venture with St. Elisabeth’s Episcopal Church in Floral Park, became the first yoked churches in the Diocese of Long Island. Together they called the Reverend Shawn M. Williams to be their Priest-in-Charge. Upon his resignation in August 1999, he was succeeded by St. Thomas’ first female Priest, the Reverend T. Abigail Murphy until 2021. St. Thomas’ and St. Elisabeth’s parishes are no longer yoked.
Since 2021, Father Brian Barry (our diocesan supply priest) leads St. Thomas’ Sunday worship and holiday celebrations preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Bellerose Village
St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church is located in Bellerose Village across from the Village Hall, the Fire House, the LIRR Station and the Police outpost.
Bellerose Village is in the Town of Hempstead, Nassau County, New York and is bordered by Atlantic Avenue, Colonial Road, Jericho Turnpike and Remsen Lane.
The Village was founded by Helen Marsh of Lynn, Massachusetts, who in 1907 purchased 77 acres of Floral Park Gladiola Fields with plans to build a model community. The first home was built in 1910 under Marsh’s supervision. She lived in it until a buyer was found and continued the same process of building, occupying, and selling. At the end, she lived in twenty-six different homes.
Bellerose Village was incorporated in 1924 and was named after Marsh’s daughter Belle and the Rose Farm south of the railroad station. The village has a mixture of Tudors, Colonials and Capes with no two homes the same.
