Wiley Roy Mason
Roy Mason was a bishop of The Episcopal Church, known for his ministry among isolated mountain communities and serving in the Diocese of Virginia as suffragan from 1942 to 1951.
Early life and education
Mason was born on November 9, 1878, in King George, Virginia, the son of Julian J. Mason and Elizabeth Freeland. He studied at the College of William & Mary from where he graduated in 1904. He then began theological studies in Alexandria, Virginia, graduating from the Virginia Theological Seminary in 1907.Ordained ministry
Mason was ordained deacon in 1907 and priest on May 24, 1908, by Bishop Robert Atkinson Gibson, the latter in the VTS's Immanuel Chapel. His first position was at Mission Home in Greene County, which permitted Rev. George Mayo to establish the Blue Ridge Industrial School, a boarding school to provide higher education to children and adults in the Blue Ridge Mountains after Rev. Frederick Neve established churches and 13 day schools in isolated communities by 1909. Mason continued in that position for about a decade, including after Neve's missions formally became the Archdeaconry of Blue Ridge. After 1911 Mason began campaigning to limit moonshine stills in those rural areas because of their detrimental effect on mountain families. He achieved some success by 1914 in Greene and nearby Albemarle Counties, by switching tactics after surviving assassination attempts and opening a vinegar factory which paid farmers the same price for apples as did still owners. In addition to illiteracy hurting isolated mountain families, the American chestnut blight was devastating trees which had one provided important income for locals, as well as timber for homes and forage for their hogs.In 1918 Rev. Mason accepted a position as rector of Christ Church in Charlottesville, Virginia, while also continuing to serve mountain missions in surrounding Albemarle and other counties. In 1926 Mason became Associate Archdeacon of the Blue Ridge. In 1928, funding permitted them to develop an additional building at Mission Home, a preventorium to nurse mountain children back to health.
By 1930, Virginia and federal officials were planning to construct Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park, which would bisect the missions, as well as cause hardship for over 600 displaced mountain people, despite promises for relocation and some compensation. By 1936, all the mission schools except for the Blue Ridge Industrial School were closed, but the promised new houses for 50 families went unfulfilled. Nonetheless the educational effort succeeded, as E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Crompton Shenandoah moved into Waynesboro, and other textile and manufacturing plants moved into the Piedmont region. Now-literate mountain people could compete for those jobs in addition to the still-developing tourist industry.