He was educated at Hobart College in Geneva, New York, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1925.
In 1933 he became the rector of Holy Trinity Church in West Palm Beach, Florida.
During World War II, he enrolled as a chaplain in the US Army with the 31st Infantry Division in the Dutch East Indies.
[4] He was then consecrated on May 23, 1945, by the Bishop of South Florida John Durham Wing in Holy Trinity Church.
[5] On April 14, 1948, he was elected Coadjutor Bishop of South Florida and succeeded as diocesan on January 1, 1951.