New Pastor Named At Seattle Ame Church -- Oregon Native Once Worked For Naacp

The Rev. Ellis Casson, a one-time West Coast field director for the NAACP and former member of the Oregon Board of Education, has been appointed the new pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Seattle, the city's oldest black congregation.

For Casson, 62, the appointment is something of a homecoming. He received his bachelor's degree in Christian education from what was then Seattle Pacific College in 1962. He also was pastor of Ebenezer AME Church in Bremerton from 1958 to 1959 and Bailey AME Church in Everett from 1976 to 1978.

Casson grew up in Portland. He was the first African American member on the Portland Planning Commission and the first black on the Oregon Board of Education.

He is a former regional director of the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Civil Rights in Portland.

Most recently, Casson was pastor of First AME Church in Pasadena, Calif.

Casson succeeds the Rev. James Oxley, who was promoted to presiding elder of the Puget Sound Annual Conference of the AME Church and also is the new minister of Walker Chapel AME Church in Seattle.

Oxley replaces the Rev. Allen Williams, who is leaving Walker Chapel to become pastor of Brookins AME Church in Oakland, Calif.

The Rev. Spencer Barrett, pastor of Primm Tabernacle AME Church in Seattle, has been assigned pastor of Walker Temple AME Church in Los Angeles.

The moves are part of the AME Church's annual round of pastoral

appointments.

Casson noted that the 1,400-member First AME Church in Seattle is celebrating its 107th anniversary this year.

Past ministers of the church, at 1522 14th Ave. in the Central Area, include the Revs. John Hurst Adams, now bishop in South Carolina, and Cecil Murray, pastor of First AME Church in South Central Los Angeles.