The Rector of St. James Church is the Rev. Susan Esco Chandler.

Susan joined St. James as Priest-in-Charge November, 2006, after serving for six years in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, as Associate Rector. The Parish of St. James called Susan to become their thirtieth rector, and Bishop Tom Shaw instituted her on October 15, 2009. Her original journey began in Oklahoma City where she was born in 1952, the first child of Sue and Joe Esco. Although Susan’s Alabama-born father only arrived in Oklahoma after fighting in World War II, her mother is a third generation Oklahoman, with Cherokee ancestors. Susan attended schools locally earning her BA in History from the University of Oklahoma in 1974.

After working briefly in New Orleans as a manager trainee for DH Holmes, Ltd., Susan traveled to the secluded Benedictine Abbey of St. Cecilia, on the Isle of Wight, to explore cloistered life. After leaving the abbey, she began studying for her certificate from the Cordon Bleu, studying in both London and Paris. In 1978 she returned to Oklahoma where she operated a successful catering business and became active in several non-profit organizations. She married in 1980 and gave birth to her own daughter in 1982. Her son was born in 1984. After the end of her marriage, Susan left the Roman Catholic Church and was received into the Episcopal Church in 1985. In 1992, Susan moved to Dallas and began a career in sales and buying at the Neiman-Marcus flagship store.

She continued to feel called to a religious vocation, and after exploration and mutual discernment, she was sponsored by the Diocese of the Rio Grande to attend the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in Manhattan, from which she graduated in 2001 with her Masters of Divinity.

Three days after graduation, Susan married Alfred D. Chandler in the Parish of Trinity Wall Street, where she had served two years as an intern while in seminary. Susan and Appy live in Rowley, MA, on the edge of the Great Marsh where life always presents itself as a gift from God.