Retired Bishop Ewen Ratteray remembers the exact day he chose the ministry. January 21, 1961.

“I was 19,” he said. “I don’t remember anything about the date, except that this was when I knew what God wanted me to do.”

He assumed he’d have to spend his career abroad; there were no Anglican ministers of colour in Bermuda at the time.

“There was nobody in the ministry who looked like me,” said the 74-year-old. “Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine becoming a bishop. I just felt God’s call very strongly.”

He grew up on Sound View Road in Sandys. His father, Stanley Ratteray, was a stone mason and his mother, Geraldine, cooked.

“My mother was quite religious as was my grandmother,” said Bishop Ratteray. “I went to St James Church with my mother during my childhood.”

The exercise bored him as a teen. “The priest was old and I don’t think he ever knew who I was,” he said. “That was one of the reasons I left.”

He switched to the Anglican Cathedral in town, attending by himself.

Some of his fellow-students at the Berkeley Institute questioned why he wanted to attend such a “white church”.

“I got some stick for that,” he said. “But the Cathedral never felt like that at all. I knew that there was segregation at that time, but I felt very strongly that the way to change was from within and not outside.”

He became an acolyte with Lawson Mapp, the future Mayor of Hamilton, and Martin Brewer the future Chief Immigration Officer.

“Canon William Manning was a very good listener,” said Bishop Ratteray. “He really inspired me, and it was he who asked me the question, ‘Have you ever thought about being a priest?’ That was about two or three years after I met him. As a matter of fact I had been thinking along those lines.”

After studying at Codrington Theological College in Barbados, he applied for a job in England.

“Initially, I was looking at Fleetwood in Lancashire, but it required me to stay single,” he said. “I knew that wasn’t for me, even though I had no one in mind [to marry]. The Bishop of Wakefield in Yorkshire took ill and came to Barbados. He had sciatica. I met him, we talked and he offered me a place in South Kirkby, Yorkshire.”

Bishop Ratteray’s early days weren’t easy ones.

“Being in such a cold climate was dreadful at first,” he said. “In my home, there was no central heating — there were no such luxuries in those days. You had to be wealthy to have central heating in the ‘60s. I had heaters going all over the house.”

After 21 months he was moved to Sowerby. His future wife Jennifer, sang in the choir.

“I used to visit her a lot,” said Bishop Ratteray. “It took her mother a long time to figure out what was going on. She thought I was just an extraordinarily good visitor. I don’t know why she didn’t know, but anyhow.”

They were married in 1972 and had three children Janine, Alexandra and Matthew.

“I spent 13 years and 252 days working in England,” said Bishop Ratteray. “I know, because the pension people told me so.”

In 1980, he was invited to return to Bermuda to take over the Pembroke Anglican churches of St John’s, St Monica’s and St Augustine’s.

“I left Bermuda in 1961,” he said. “It was a little disorienting to come back.”

His settling in didn’t go smoothly. He caused controversy when he decided that weddings and funerals wouldn’t happen on Sundays.

“I reckoned there was plenty of time during the week to do those things,” he said. “Sunday needed to be a day of rest and worship. That took a little getting used to, but people came around eventually. I was at St John’s for 16 years and it was lovely.”

He was an Archdeacon for two years before being elected the first Bermudian Anglican Bishop in 1996.

“It was daunting, in a way,” he said. “It was a totally new experience. You aren’t trained as such to do this, except that all that you’ve done is preparation. The bishop is like an overseer of a diocese. A diocese is made up of parishes. Bermuda is very small with nine parishes plus the Cathedral. I was overall in charge of that. The clergy was my responsibility. As Bishop I was in charge of the synod, which is the governing body of the church, and the president of the Bermuda Church Society, the business end of things for the church.”

He believes that the ministry is very much a calling rather than a job.

“God calls and God enables,” said Bishop Ratteray. “He never calls unless he enables. Without him I wouldn’t have been able to do anything at all. Knowing that is absolutely essential. Prayer was, and is, very much a part of my life. If I didn’t pray I wouldn’t have been able to do anything or achieve anything.

“When I left Airedale with Fryston, my last parish in Yorkshire, someone asked me was I successful. The same thing was asked of me later as Bishop. The answer is the same: I don’t know. I am in the seed-planting business — some will grow and some will not and other people will reap the harvest. I don’t think in terms of trying to be a success. If you think in those terms you will spend too much time thinking about yourself.”

In his 50 years as a priest he has sometimes felt discouraged because of circumstances, but never regretted his choice of profession.

“There has never been a time I wanted to do anything else, never, ever,” he said. “During my long career I am most proud of being able to help people in different settings in the United Kingdom and in Bermuda and in other places where I have travelled. I am proud of just being able to be God’s servant at a particular time and place.”

He retired March 31, 2008.

“I found retirement a little difficult at first, not having anything to do,” he said. “One thing I was determined not to do was become more busy in retirement than when working.”

He sits on the board of the Lady Cubitt Compassionate Association and loves travelling with his wife. They have five grandchildren.

Last month he received the Queen’s Certificate and Badge of Honour.

His humble response was: “Why me? There is nothing special about me. I just did and do my job, the one God called me to.”

•Lifestyle profiles senior citizens in the community every Tuesday. To suggest an outstanding senior contact Jessie Moniz Hardy: 278-0150 or jmhardy@royalgazette.com. Have on hand the senior’s full name, contact details and the reason you are suggesting them.