Br. James E. Garvey
Willing to lend a hand wherever needed, Br. James E. Garvey, 71, died of pancreatic cancer in his room in the Jesuit Community at St. Camillus on Jan. 4 in Wauwatosa, Wis.
Born March 24, 1934 and raised in Milbank, S.D., Jim entered the Society of Jesus at Florissant, Mo. in 1955. In 1961 he went to work for Fr. Gus Giunta, SJ in the office of the Jesuit Seminary Guild in Milwaukee. Between 1974 and 1988 he worked at Marquette University High School and discovered he had a great talent for making pottery. After a year of studies at Loyola University in New Orleans, Jim returned to Marquette High to teach art (1989-93). His beautiful pottery often became gifts of art to school and friends.
In 1997 Jim was missioned to Creighton Prep in Omaha and served the community as minister. He suffered a stroke in 2003, necessitating a move to St. Camillus. When doctors diagnosed cancer, Jim chose to forego treatment. His last year was marked by service to his St. Camillus community and by a dignified and peaceful, wait for the Lord.
Fr. Thomas A. Hoffman
A very kind, funny, and holy priest Fr. Thomas A. Hoffman, 81, died after a heart attack, at the Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Neb. on May 23, 2006.
Born May 22, 1925 in Milwaukee, Tom finished Marquette High early so he could enter the Society of Jesus at Florissant in Feb. of 1943. He taught briefly at Regis High School in Denver and at Creighton Prep in Omaha, but is mostly remembered for his time at Campion (1958-66).
With encouragement from Vatican Council II Tom earned a degree in Scripture at the Gregorian University in Rome. He taught Scripture at Creighton University. (1960-1988) where his fastidious attention to detail could drive others crazy if they didn’t realize where his two passions in life lay, the Church and bird watching.
When heart trouble terminated his teaching in 1988 Tom stayed at Creighton to build up the theology library, hear confessions each noon, and roam the U.S. in search of birds he had not heard. A member of the Audubon Society since 1972, he documented over 1,400 species of birds in his lifetime.
Br. Paul Kempker
World War II veteran Br. Paul Kempker died Sept. 16, 2005 at St. Camillus Health Center in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. He was 89.
Born Aug. 12, 1916 in Carroll, Iowa, Paul enlisted in the U.S. Army five years after graduating from high school. He was standing on a hill overlooking Pearl Harbor when the Japanese planes attacked the American fleet on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. It is a day and an event he never forgot.
When the war ended Paul joined the Society of Jesus at Florissant, Mo. In 1955 when the Wisconsin Province split off from the Missouri Province, Paul was sent to Campion Jesuit High School in Prairie du Chien, Wis., where he worked in the bursar’s office and the mail room.
When Campion closed its doors in 1975, Paul went to Creighton Prep in Omaha and helped in the business office. He lived at Prep until 1997 and moved to St. Camillus in 2002. He died quietly in his room there early in the morning.
Fr. James P. Kramper
A man who enjoyed priesthood and Jesuit life immensely, Fr. James P. Kramper, 93, died Dec. 9, 2005 in Wauwatosa, Wis. of complications from Parkinson’s disease.
Born April 11, 1912 in Omaha, he entered the Jesuits in 1931 following graduation from Creighton Prep. He taught at Campion Jesuit High School before ordination (1938-41) and recruited students after ordination (1946-53).
In 1953 Creighton University President Carl Reinert asked Jim to plan and build a new library. The Reinert Memorial Library was completed in 1961; Jim was director until 1977. From 1978-81 he worked in development, visiting donors in California.
Around the time of Reinert’s death in 1980, Jim turned his attention to parishes, assisting at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Omaha (1977-78) and at Queen of Apostles Parish in Council Bluffs (1981-87). He loved the people and they enjoyed him, as one parishioner put it, his “humor, a 5-minute sermon, and a thought you could carry with you through the week.”
Limited by the effects of Parkinson’s disease, he moved to the Jesuit Community at St. Camillus in 2003.
Br. Gerald F. McKeever
Br. Gerald F. McKeever, 93, a man who, when his wife of 11 years passed away, wanted to devote himself to God died Nov. 3 in his room at St. Camillus Health Center in Wauwatosa, Wis. He was a Jesuit Brother for 53 years.
Born April 10, 1912 Gerry grew up on a farm near Stiles. He taught science in high schools in central Wisconsin, at Pulaski, Oconto, and Sturgeon Bay. He married Dorothy Stangel of Manitowoc in 1938, and they taught school in the Panama Canal Zone from 1941-47.
Gerry entered the Society of Jesus in January 1952, three year’s after Dorothy died. For many years (1955-83) he managed the office of the Jesuit Seminary Guild. Later he guided retreatants at the Jesuit Retreat House in Oshkosh, Wis. (1983-86 and 1991-95) and visited shut-ins in Milwaukee (1986-91). His final years were spent in Wauwatosa with the St. Camillus Jesuit Community. Having spent four decades in the lay world and more than five as a Jesuit, what he wanted most at the end of his life was to be united with God and re-united with his wife.
Fr. James J. Quinn
An advocate for Creighton health science students from 1953 to 2003, Fr. James J. Quinn, died of head injuries from a fall, on July 10, 2006 at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa, Wis. He was 87.
Born in Chicago on Dec. 16, 1918, Jim moved when he was eight to Milwaukee and entered the Jesuits following graduation from Marquette University High School in 1937.
He was ordained in 1950 and came to Creighton University to teach philosophy and supervise the dorm known as Wareham Hall.
Realizing how often patients in the health care system sought to find compassion, integrity and humility in medical personnel, he advocated electives in history, literature, philosophy and theology which would give students a view of life from a patient’s perspective. His labors bore fruit through his own teaching of ethics and his close association with the Catholic Physicians Guild and with the health care institutions in Eastern Nebraska.
Jim was a man who kept in contact with many Creighton alums by phone and letter, a practice he continued when he moved to Wauwatosa, Wis. in 2003.
Fr. James Scull
A considerate, gentle man whose favorite words were thank you, Fr. James Scull, died March 23 at the Jesuit Community at St. Camillus in Wauwatosa, Wis. He was 79.
Born Feb.12, 1927 in Pine Bluff, Ark., Jim began graduated from Creighton Prep in Omaha in 1944. He entered the Jesuits in 1945, taught at Rockhurst High School, Kansas City (1952-55), and was ordained in 1958.
After receiving a doctorate in moral theology from the Gregorian University, he taught at Creighton (1963-68) and Marquette (1968-75) universities. He then trained to be a chaplain and returned to Creighton where he was well-liked by the students. He was easy to talk and often became an advocate for students in difficulty, earning him opportunities to hear those words he loved to utter – thank you.
In 1991 Jim began pastoral work in Hartford, Conn., and made fast friends, first at St. Augustine’s Parish and then at Hartford Hospital. Twelve years later he moved back to Milwaukee where, without warning on the evening of March 23, he collapsed and died in his room.
Br. Clair M. Simon
A friend of many Native American artists, Br. Clair M. Simon, 69, died on July 14, 2006. He suffered an apparent heart attack while wading in Lake Angostura, near Rapid City, South Dakota.
Simon entered the Jesuits in 1959 at the age of 22. His aptitude for being a treasurer was noticed early; in 1964 he was assigned to the treasurer’s office of Holy Rosary Mission on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
On the reservation, Simon fell in love with the people and asked himself what he could do to make them believe in themselves and in their own God-given goodness. Forsaking the treasurer’s office he established an annual art show, an early retail outlet for the works of local artisans, and a Heritage Center that collected the best examples of Lakota painting, bead and quill work, and quilts.
Clad in moccasins and an old cassock, Simon annually introduced thousands of visitors to Lakota culture, pointing out its beauty and values. A significant player in South Dakota art circles, he was an important contributor to Holy Rosary’s mission.
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