Chester Talton
Chester Lovelle Talton was an American bishop in the Episcopal Church in [the United States of America|Episcopal Church] who served as the Provisional Bishop of the Episcopal [Diocese of San Joaquin|Diocese of San Joaquin].
Background
Talton was born in El Dorado, Arkansas, to Chester Talton and Mae Ola Shells. He was ordained deacon in 1970 and to the priesthood in February 1971, in the San Francisco–based Diocese of California. He married Karen Louise Warren on August 25, 1963, and has four children from this union. Karen Talton died in 2003. Talton remarried in 2007, to April Grayson, a lay leader in the Diocese of Los Angeles. He was African American, and one of 37 black bishops who have been consecrated by the Episcopal Church.Talton died following surgery in Altadena, California, on November 20, 2025, at the age of 84.
Education
Talton studied at California [State University, Hayward], California where he earned his B.S. in 1965, and Church [Divinity School of the Pacific], Berkeley, California, where he earned his M.Div. in 1970, and ultimately his D.D.Positions held
Positions held included Provisional Bishop, Diocese of San Joaquin, 2011–2014; Bishop Suffragan, Diocese of Los Angeles, 1991 to 2010; Rector, St. Philip's Church, New York City, 1985–1990; Mission Officer, Trinity Church Wall Street, New York City, 1981–1985; Rector, St. Philip's Church, Saint Paul, Minnesota, 1976–1981; Vicar, Holy Cross Church, Chicago, Illinois, 1973–1976; Vicar, St. Mathias' Mission, and Curate, All Saints' Church, Carmel, California, 1971–1973; and Vicar, Good Shepherd Church, Berkeley, California, 1970–1971.Talton's consecrators were Edmond L. Browning, Orris George Walker, and Robert Marshall Anderson.