The Rt. Rev. Gray Temple, 85, retired Bishop of South Carolina, died Oct. 27 at the South Carolina Episcopal Retirement Community at Still Hopes, West Columbia, S.C. He led his diocese for more than 20 years, retiring in 1982.

Bishop Temple was native of Lewiston, Maine. He was a graduate of Brown University and Virginia Theological Seminary. He was ordained deacon in 1938 and priest in 1939 and consecrated bishop in 1961.

He served as assistant at Calvary Church, Tarboro, N.C., 1938-40; rector of Truro, Fairfax, Va., 1940-41; priest-in-charge of St. John's, Battleboro, N.C., 1941-47; rector of Good Shepherd, Rocky Mount, N.C., 1941-53; rector of St. Peter's, Charlotte, N.C., 1953-55; and as dean of Trinity Cathedral, Columbia, S.C., until his election as bishop.

Bishop Temple was a founder of St. Christopher's Camp and Conference Center at Seabrook Island, S.C., the South Carolina Episcopal Retirement Community at Still Hopes, and of the Bishop Gadsden Community in Charleston, S.C. He established the parish of St. Luke and St. Paul in Charleston as the cathedral in 1963. Bishop Temple was a trustee of Voorhees College and the University of the South. He served on the national Executive Council, 1967-1973.

Bishop Temple is survived by his wife, Maria Louise Thomas Temple, three sons, the Rev. Gray Temple, Jr., Duluth, Ga., Robert Drane Temple, Ocracoke, N.C., and Charles Adams Temple, Gloucester, Va., and seven grandchildren.

Agnes Lee Clawson contributed to this article.