The Rt. Rev. Charles Lindsay “Charlie” Longest, retired suffragan bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, died May 28 at Carroll Hospital Centerafter a brief illness. The Sykesville resident was 91.
“He had a marvelous sense of humor, and he would make comments that would just have you in stitches, but they were always right on and appropriate,” said the Rt. Rev. Robert W. Ihloff, retired bishop of Maryland.
“Charlie was extremely helpful in my first two years as bishop, especially because he knew a great deal about the diocese. … I relied on him heavily,” he added.
Charles Lindsay Longest was born and raised in Catonsville, the youngest of five children to George Longest, a carpenter, and Mamie Longest, a homemaker. A lacrosse player in his youth, he played for Catonsville High School, from which he graduatedin 1951.
“He made his first lacrosse stick with a broomstick and an onion bag, and would play in his backyard growing up,” said Jon Longest, his youngest son.
After working for Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company of Maryland, he left for the University of Maryland, College Park after receiving a scholarship to play lacrosse. He was on the 1955 national championship team and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology the following year.
In college, he began to take an interest in religion and attended St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Catonsville, where he met his future wife, Barbara Hildebrandt. That’s where the two married in 1956. He went on to further studies in religion, receiving two postgraduate degrees from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University.
After his ordination as a priest in 1960, Bishop Longest served at congregations in Essex, Ten Hills and Woodlawn, before moving to Church of the Holy Cross in Cumberland, where he became rector in 1973. He remained there until elected bishop suffragan, or assistant bishop, in 1989, and moved to the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland in Baltimore. During that time, he also served as bishop-in-charge from 1994 to 1995.
Bishop Longest became known for his ability to connect with his parishioners, especially when he counseled people who were grieving. This was due, in part, to losing his oldest son to cancer at the age of 8.
“He would talk about that experience and what he learned from that,” said the Rev. Edie Holton, former chaplain at Fairhaven retirement community in Sykesville, where he spent his final years. “That was something that really deepened him and gave him an extra capacity for compassion.”
In other ways, he loved to talk with young people, where his sense of humor came to light.
“When he became bishop suffragan, because he had been a lacrosse player at the University of Maryland, he had a lacrosse stick made into his crozier, because, of course, a lacrosse stick is curved like a shepherd’s crook,” the Rt. Rev. Ihloff said. “And he had fun with the kids in the congregation explaining the meaning of his crozier.”
Bishop Longest retired from the diocese in 1997, and he and his wife remained in Baltimore to build a house with Habitat for Humanity in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood.
He was known to often come out of retirement, serving as assisting bishop for the Diocese of Easton from 2001 to 2003 and spending several years as a summer bishop for St. Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church in Maine. In his free time, he enjoyed playing golf and traveling to see cathedrals in England.
“He doesn’t fit the stereotype of a typical bishop or a pastor,” said his son, who would come home from school when the family lived in Cumberland with his car making a funny noise. When that happened,his dad “rolled up the sleeves of his black clerical shirt to see what was wrong.”
Bishop Longest and his wife moved from Cedarcroft Road in Baltimore in 2006 to Fairhaven, a retirement community established by the Episcopal Diocese. They were married for 66 years until her death in 2023.
A sports fan, he was often found cheering on the Orioles and Ravens and his beloved University of Maryland lacrosse team.
“I would go visit him in his cottage and we would have a glass of wine together. And he had on all the wine glasses a little line drawn so he knew to pour in just one serving of wine,”the Rev. Holton said. “I’ll never forget those visits of just sitting with him.”
Bishop Longest’s family plans to hold a public memorial later this summer.
He is survived by his sons, Dr. Timothy Longest, of Oakland in Garrett County, and Jon Longest, of Grasonville,and four grandchildren.
