Foote, Norman L. (Norman Landon), 1915-1974

The ties between the Episcopal Church and Boise State University are old ones. The university was founded as Boise Junior College by the Right Rev. Middleton S. Barnwell, Bishop of Idaho, in 1932. It remained a church institution during the first few years of its existence.

From the guide to the Episcopal Diocese of Idaho Records, 1867-1988, (Boise State University Library)

Norman Landon Foote was born on November 30, 1915, at Saratoga Springs, New York. The son of Leroy Herman Foote, a noted dental surgeon in Saratoga Springs, and Amy Verina (Close) Foote. Foote attended the Saratoga Public Schools and graduated from Saratoga High School in 1933. After graduating from high school Foote attended Hamilton College, located at Hamilton, New York, for one year (1933-1934). In the autumn of 1934 he transferred to Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, where he pursued studies in history. In 1937 he graduated from Princeton with an A.B. in history. Following graduation from Princeton, Foote studied for the ministry at the General Theological Seminary, New York City, New York, and received a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree (S.T.B.) in 1940. Subsequently, Foote was awarded two honorary degrees; a Doctor of Sacred Theology (S.T.D.) from General Theological Seminary in 1957, and a Doctor of Divinity (D.D) from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkley, California, in the same year.

On June 1, 1940, Foote married Carolyn Hope Swayne, a native of Newton, Pennsylvania, at a ceremony conducted at Princeton, New Jersey. From this union four children were born: Margaret Elizabeth, Gerald H., Francis, and Ralph Norman.

Ordained as a deacon of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Albany, New York, in May 1940, Foote was assigned to the Episcopal Missionary district in Montana. In December 1940, he was ordained as a priest at Bozeman, Montana. From 1940 to 1943, Reverend Foote served as a missionary priest at Virginia City, Montana. In 1943 he was named Archdeacon for Episcopal Church in Montana and remained in that post until 1950. During his ministry in the rural areas of Montana, Foote became interested in the uniqueness of the rural ministry. In 1950 he accepted a call to serve as director of Roanridge, a post graduate training center for Episcopal seminarians called to the rural ministry. Located at Parkville, Missouri, Roanridge also known as the National Town and Country Church Institute was to remain as Foote's home until 1957. In 1956, Reverend Foote was named by the Episcopal House of Bishops as the sixth, and last, Bishop of the Missionary District of Idaho. On February 14, 1957, Norman Foote was consecrated as a Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in a solemn ceremony conducted at Saint Michael's Cathedral, in Boise, Idaho. In 1967 the Missionary District of Idaho was elevated to the status of a diocese and Bishop Foote became the first Bishop of the Diocese of Idaho.

During Bishop Foote's tenure the Diocese of Idaho gained strength in church membership and became well known as the "testing ground" of innovations for the Episcopal Church in the United States. Some of the programs established during Bishop Foote's years as head of the Episcopal Church in Idaho were: Ecumenicalism, Pastoral Care, Metropolitan Planning, and The Idaho Project - an experimental program for self supporting ministries. On February 14, 1972, after 15 years service as Bishop of Idaho, Bishop Foote retired due to ill health and moved to McCall, Idaho. Active even in retirement, Bishop Foote continued to serve the Episcopal Church in Idaho in various capacities. On May 12, 1974, Bishop Norman Landon Foote died at the age of 59, from complications of emphysema, in a hospital at Cascade, Idaho.

From the guide to the Norman L. Foote Papers, 1937-1974, (Boise State University Library)