Interested in the ministry since his days at the Peterkin conference center, Atkinson then attended the Virginia Theological Seminary and graduated in 1953.
Bishop Robert E.L. Strider ordained Atkinson as a deacon on June 6, 1953, and as a priest on February 24, 1954, as he served at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Wheeling, West Virginia (1953-1955).
[2] In 1973, the diocesan convention elected him coadjutor to bishop Wilburn C. Campbell, who announced his impending retirement at the end of 1975.
That led to 16 sticks of dynamite being blasted on Halloween, 1974 at the Board of Education building a block from the Diocesan center, as well as to his vilification by some partisans both on the street and in print.
Campbell as West Virginia's fifth bishop in January 1976, also became a leading advocate within the Episcopal Church for the ordination of women.