Former Colorado Suffragan Bishop William ’Dub’ Wolfrum dies at 81

Retired Diocese of Colorado Suffragan Bishop William Harvey “Dub” Wolfrum, died suddenly November 24 in Fort Collins, Colorado. He was 81.

Wolfrum was consecrated suffragan bishop of Colorado in 1981 and served in that capacity for 10 years. He became the acting ecclesiastical authority in the diocese between the time Bishop William Frey retired in 1990 and Bishop William Winterrowd was elected in 1991.

Wolfrum then retired and lived with his wife, Beverly, in Ennis, Montana. They moved back to Colorado in late 2005 to be closer to their children.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. on November 28 at St. John’s in the Wilderness Episcopal Cathedral in Denver.

In an email to the clergy of the diocese, current Colorado Bishop Robert O’Neill described Wolfrum as a person “who, over many years and for many in Colorado, has been a dear friend, a kind and prayerful pastor, a faithful leader and Father in God.”

Wolfrum was born January 16, 1926, in Missouri. He received a B.S. from Central Missouri State University, a M.S. from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and a Bachelor of Divinity in 1959 from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. The school awarded him a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1981.

He served as a sergeant major in the Army from 1944-46 and later during the Korean Conflict from 1950-51.

Wolfrum worked as a fisheries biologist for the New Mexico Game and Fish Department before he was ordained a priest January 6, 1960, by then Rio Grande Bishop C. J. Kinsolving. He served parishes in New Mexico for eight years and as chaplain and chair of religious studies at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin, Texas, from 1968 to 1970. In 1970, Wolfrum began serving at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Worland, Wyoming, where he remained until 1980.

Wolfum was elected suffragan bishop of Colorado on September 13, 1980. His consecration and ordination took place on the Feast of the Epiphany in 1981. Wolfrum also served as interim bishop of Wyoming and Navajoland.

In 1986, Wolfrum helped lead a Colorado diocesan team that met with members of St. Mary’s Anglican Catholic Church to reach an agreement which made clear the diocesan rights over the property of the breakaway parish.

According to an obituary in the Fort Collins newspaper, Wolfrum is survived by his wife, Beverly; daughters, Debbie (Don) Calkins of Irvine, California, Martha (Jim) Robertson of Aurora; son, Nick (Shari Olson) Wolfrum of Longmont; sister, Shirley (Kelley) Meyer; 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.