Answering the Call Inspired by mentors, classmates and conversations at Washington and Lee University, the Rev. Dane Boston ’08 built a life centered on faith and service.

Grace Sanborn
May 13, 2026

The Reverend Dane Boston ’08 can pinpoint the exact moment he found his calling in the church, and it was in Fletcher Otey Thomas Professor in Bible Alexandra Brown’s New Testament 101 class at Washington and Lee University.

“On a Friday afternoon in the fall in Lexington, I remember sitting in that class thinking, ‘I need to talk about this the rest of my life; I need to do this the rest of my life,’” Boston said. “We were studying one of the gospels, and it was impactful for me just to realize that I wanted to do this but in the ecclesiastical world.”

Now the rector at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston — the largest parish of the Episcopal Church in North America with more than 10,000 parishioners — Boston was confirmed and began the discernment process at Grace Episcopal Church (formerly R.E. Lee Episcopal Church) in Lexington, Virginia.

From Dunedin, Florida, Boston said he was drawn to W&L’s values and history, particularly the Honor System and Speaking Tradition. Those values of responsibility and community continue to inform his life and work today.

“I’m a big advocate of the Speaking Tradition,” Boston said, “especially in a technologically blinded age, making sure that we’re facing the people in front of us and building relationships with the people around us. That’s been a great joy for me within a cathedral or parish staff.

“How do we not just work together but remember why we are working together — remember that we are all serving God, whether we are preaching, picking up the trash or anything in between?” he continued.

W&L was the springboard for Boston’s life and career. He met his wife, Debby Newell Boston ’08, while at W&L. They were married at Grace Episcopal a year after graduating and held their reception on campus.

“The most consequential thing that happened to me on campus was meeting Deb,” he said.

While he explored different courses of study, Boston ultimately majored in English.

“The English degree is a great preparation for ministry because it’s all reading, thinking and writing, as well as engaging with other people who give you feedback,” he said.

Boston was also an active member of the Shepherd Program and a Bonner Scholar throughout his time on campus. These programs gave him the opportunity to lead pre-orientation programs and work closely with the Rockbridge County community. However, it was his faith that became the keystone of his involvement at W&L.

Boston went through the discernment process at Grace Episcopal, participated in the parish’s search for a rector during his sophomore year and taught Sunday school.

“Church was this really great connection and outlet that gave me the opportunity to interact with people younger than me and people older than me,” he said.

He added that while other organizations serve similar purposes to churches — schools and universities educate people, clubs and activities create community and social organizations serve others — the church is differentiated by the shared purpose of its members.

“The church was the only entity that brought it all together and made it not about us, not about me as an individual or even the community of its various demographics together, but about God,” Boston said. “Because it was about God, then we could go back to all these other convictions, and they were transformed by that grounding.”

He emphasized the importance of shared purpose and belief, especially as society has become more separated and individual.

“The church, at its best, pulls people out of that, changing who they are and how they react to one another for the better,” he added.

After graduating from Washington and Lee, Boston attended Yale Divinity School and has since served at churches and cathedrals in Greenwich, Connecticut, Cooperstown, New York, and Columbia, South Carolina. In August 2025, he received unanimous approval by the vestry of St. Martin’s in Houston to become its fifth rector.

He credited the ethos of responsibility and respect instilled in him by the Honor System at W&L as an inspiration for his approach to ministry.

“I don’t like to micromanage people; I don’t like to try to do their jobs for them. I want to make sure they feel inspired, equipped and empowered to do their jobs and to know that their work is valuable,” Boston said. “I feel all of that comes from what I experienced at W&L, where professors treated me as somebody whose ideas were worth listening to, somebody who was worth investing the time to help make a paper better or help me understand something.”

Boston measures his life not through personal success but in service to others.

“The recognition that it is about other people — that none of us exists in a vacuum, and we’ve got to be supporting one another, and we’ve got to be looking for the ways to lift one another up — that, to me, is the measure of a consequential life.” – Rev. Dane Boston ’08

“The recognition that it is about other people — that none of us exists in a vacuum, and we’ve got to be supporting one another, and we’ve got to be looking for the ways to lift one another up — that, to me, is the measure of a consequential life.”