Fr. William Lyons

 PASTOR EMERITUS

 Father William J. Lyons, pastor emeritus of St. Terrence Parish, Alsip, died June 26 at Holy Family Villa in Palos Park. He was 80 years old.

A Chicago native, Father Lyons graduated from St. Ambrose School, Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary and the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary. He was ordained in 1956 and began serving a five-year term as the assistant pastor at St. John De La Salle Parish on Chicago’s South Side. In 1961, Father Lyons was named assistant pastor at St. Anne Parish in Chicago. During these years, he also taught religion at Mendel High School.

 Father Lyons served as assistant pastor at St. Joachim Parish on the South Side (1966-74) and as pastor (1974-83). He then was named pastor of St. Terrence. In addition to his pastoral duties, Father Lyons taught religion at Maria High School. He retired from active ministry in 2001 and was named pastor emeritus of St. Terrence.

 Fr. Robert Murphy

 PASTOR, NOVICE MASTER

Jesuit Father Robert J. Murphy, 87, died May 1 in Michigan.

A Chicago native, he graduated from St. Ignatius High School and entered the Jesuits in 1941.

 He was ordained in 1954, after studying philosophy and theology and teaching high school for three years.

He then served as the secretary for the Provincial for the Chicago Province of the Jesuits until 1958, before beginning a 10- year assignment as master of novices at the former novitiate in Milford, Ohio. He then served as the director of the Barrington Retreat House (1968-71), pastor at St. Ignatius Parish (1971-78) and province coordinator of Christian Life Communities at Loyola University (1978- 81).

After this he returned to serve as associate pastor at St. Ignatius Parish in Chicago until 1982, when he went to Kentucky for the last 20 years of his active ministry.

Sr. Maureen Loonam

PRINCIPAL

Providence Sister Maureen (Genevieve Marie) Loonam, 93, died May 21 in St. Mary-of-the- Woods, Ind.

A Minnesota native, she entered the congregation in 1934 and professed final vows in 1941. Sister Maureen ministered 40 years in elementary schools in Indiana and Illinois.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she served as principal at St. Agnes (1953-59).

Sr. Norella Hartnett

EDUCATOR, PARISH MINISTERR

 Mercy Sister Norella (Irene) Hartnett, 94, died May 30 at Mercy Convent.

 A Chicago native, she attended St. Kilian School and Mercy High School before entering the congregation in 1934. She earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Xavier College in 1950.

She ministered in education, religious formation and pastoral services. From 1937 to 1953, she taught in several Catholic schools, including: St. Catherine of Siena, St. Cecilia, St. Gabriel and St. Monica. In 1953, she served as principal and teacher at St. Joan of Arc in Skokie, and from 1958- 1960 as a teacher at Queen of Martyrs, Evergreen Park. She worked with postulants and juniors in the congregation from 1960 to 1968. Then after attending the Divine Word Center in London, Ontario, she taught at Mercy High School (1969-73).

From 1973 to 1990, Sister Norella began her third area of ministry, social work and parish ministry. She worked in churches on the South Side of Chicago whose memberships were predominantly African-American.

Sr. Mary DeCock

 EDUCATOR

 BVM Sister Mary DeCock, 87, died June 2 in Dubuque, Iowa.

An Iowa native, she entered the congregation in 1944 and professed final vows in 1952.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Mary taught English, journalism and religious studies at Mundelein College during the years from 1955-91. From 1991-93 she was a professor at Loyola University Chicago and was professor emerita at Loyola from 1993-2005. Earlier in her teaching ministry, from 1947-55, she was a high school teacher in Des Moines, Iowa. During the years from 1968 through 2005, Sr. Mary was active in service to her BVM congregation in many capacities.

Fr. Richard White

 MISSIONARY

 Claretian Father Richard S. White, 70, died June 6.

Father White, from Queen of Martyrs Parish, Evergreen Park, made his profession of vows as a Claretian in 1958 and perpetual vows as a brother in 1964. He was ordained 1979.

Father White served in Guatemala and Mexico and, in the United States, in New Jersey and Missouri, as well as serving as the vocation director in Chicago.

 Father White is survived by his brothers Kenneth and Robert.

Sr. Mary Flavia Widmeier

EDUCATOR, MISSIONARY

Sister of the Holy Child Jesus Mary Flavia Widmeier, 94, died of heart failure June 9 in Rosemont, Pa. a.

Born in Philadelphia, Sister Mary Flavia entered the society in 1934. She spent most of her ministry serving in Pennsylvania, but taught at St. Ignatius School in Chicago (1936- 50). She also served in New York, New Jersey and Nigeria.

She is survived by her sister, Sister of the Holy Child Jesus Maureen Widmeier.

Fr. Elzear Gehlen

MISSIONARY, PASTOR

Divine Word Father Elzear (Al) Gehlen, 94, a respected pastor in an African-American parish on Chicago’s Southside during the Civil Rights Movement, died June 12 in Techny. ny.

Born in Glencoe, Minn., he was a grade school student when a Divine Word Missionary visited his school and ignited his desire to become a missionary. In 1939, the then-24-year-old Gehlen professed first vows. In 1944, he became a priest, but with World War II raging, leaders in the Society of the Divine Word ceased appointments of newly ordained priests to the missions in the South Pacific.

 Instead, Father Gehlen took a course at Alexian Brothers Hospital in Chicago on treating tropical diseases

In 1947, he was assigned to Koge, New Guinea. While there, he built a mission church, school and other buildings needed for the mission station in the mountainous region.

 In 1954, Father Gehlen returned to the United States for back surgery after being thrown from a horse. Upon his recovery, he became assistant pastor at St. Elizabeth, Chicago’s oldest African-American parish.

 In 1957, Father Gehlen joined the staff at St. Anselm. Four years later, he became pastor and served the parish until 1977. He retired in 1988 and became priest-in-residence at St. Cecilia in Mount Prospect, Ill. Joann Harper, who graduated from St. Anselm and later returned as a teacher, met Father Gehlen when she was a second grader. “He was the tallest man I had ever seen,” she said of the man who stood 6 feet, 4 inches tall.

One of Harper’s most compelling memories of Fr. Gehlen dates back to 1968 when riots broke out on Chicago’s Southside following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Father Gehlen actively brought together the gangs to bring some peace to the neighborhood,” she said. “He was a part of the community, as well as the parish.”

 Father Gehlen once told a reporter that divine providence led the way. “My life has given me great faith in divine providence,” he told the reporter. “Everything seems to work out in the end.”

He is survived by two sisters, Sr. Norella Joanne Boyle and Claire Speck.