The Church of Ireland
Diocesan Press Release

The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Walton Empey, presided at her Funeral Service in Rathmichael Parish Church on Friday,  30 November 2001. Also robed were Canon Ginnie Kennerley, one of  the first women priests in the Church of Ireland, Fr Simeon Breen, chaplain to St Colmcille’s Hospital, and three of the four lay readers commissioned with Mrs Wormell in 1975, Patricia Hastings Hardy, Thea Boyle and Audrey Smith.

Speaking at service, the rector, the Revd Fred Appelbe, recalled that Daphne Wormell, was born into an Irish family living in Canada. She came to Trinity College Dublin in 1937 where she studied History and Political Science and went on to become a Scholar and Gold medallist.

He said,  “Women scholars were rare and sometimes resented at the time. This student espoused women’s issues then and for the rest of her life but she may be described more as an Equalist than a Feminist.”

Following her marriage to Donald Wormell,  they lived in England until 1944 when they returned to Dublin where Donald took up an appointment in Trinity College. In 1949 the Wormells moved to Sandyford where they were known for their generous hospitality. In the 60s Daphne taught History & Art Appreciation in a number of Dublin schools, including Park House, The High School and Hillcourt School.

Mr Appelbe said that throughout her life spiritual matters were of central importance to her  and her interest in the ordination of women increased in the early 1970s when Archbishop Simms asked her to write on the ordination of women as she was familiar with developments in this area in the United States and Canada.  In 1975 she and four other women were invited by Archbishop Buchanan to train as the first female lay readers in the United Dioceses of Dublin & Glendalough. Later she started the Women in Ministry group and was chairperson of the planning group which organised a seminal Conference on Women’s Ministry in Trinity College in 1986.

Mr Appelbe said that in addition to her church activities she found time to contribute to her old alma mater where she was a long serving member of Trinity Trust, president of the Women’s Graduates Association, and instigator of the Returning Scholars’ dinner. In 1991 she started  the Trinity Book Sale ­ now a major event in the College Calendar.

Her faithful service as a lay reader continued  to the end  “She continued faithfully to conduct quiet services in a local nursing home week by week year after year right up to three weeks ago.” He ended, “Looking back on this gifted life where  the Gospel of Jesus Christ truly took root and flourished, this was a life lived loving and serving neighbour day by day and loving and serving her God into all eternity.”

Mrs Wormell is survived by three sons, Richard, Robin and Stephen, and a daughter, Julia.