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Obituaries

Pray For Them

Sr. Mary Ellen Kilday

TEACHER, CONSULTANT

Sister Mary Ellen (Margaret Eileen) Kilday, 95, died May 21 in St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind. A native of Sterling, Ill., she entered the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods in 1932, and ministered as a teacher and education consultant.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she served at Providence High School (1940-42), Corpus Christi High School (1960-61) and Mother Theodore Guerin High School, River Grove (1973).

Fr. James Edmiston

BIOLOGIST, MISSIONARY

Franciscan Father James Edmiston, 53, was found dead in his room May 18 at Holy S e p u l c h r e Monastery in Washington, D.C. Born in Key West, he entered the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in Pittsburgh in 1980 and transferred to the Order of Friars Minor in 1982. He was ordained in 1998 in Quincy, Ill.

A biologist specializing in entomology, he taught high school in Ohio before coming to Illinois, where he taught biology at Quincy University and studied at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. After ordination he continued to teach at Quincy until 2001.

He spent the next seven years in Russia, eventually serving as formation director and then president of the missionary federation of the Friars Minor in Russia. He returned to the United States earlier this year to do missionary work at the Smithsonian Institute.

Sr. M. Reginia Jagodzinski

EDUCATOR

Felician Sister Mary Reginia Jagodzinski, 92, died May 22 at Our Lady of the Angels Convent in Chicago.

Born in Manitowoc, she was a member of the Felician Sisters for 73 years. She taught elementary and high school and college students for 49 years, and spent five years assisting elderly people in a residence in Manitowoc.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she served at St. John of God (1934-35); St. Mary Magdalen (1936-46); St. Stanislaus, Posen (1946-47); St. Helen (1951-52); Good Counsel High School (1952-58, 1960-68, and 1995-97) St. Joseph High School (1958-60) and Felician College (1971-89).

Fr. John Wald

PAPUA NEW GUINEA MISSIONARY

Divine Word Father John Wald, 92, a pioneer in Papua New Guinea’s education system, died May 22 in Techny.

“John Wald contributed to the well-being of a nation,” said Divine Word Father Mark Weber provincial of the Society of the Divine Word’s Chicago Province. Born in North Dakota, Wald was a teenager when he decided to leave the family farm and join the seminary in 1930. After ordination in 1943, he went to Australia for a year before heading to New Guinea, (now Papua New Guinea) , where he spent most of the next 57 years.

After eight years as a “bush missionary,” he opened the region’s first English-language school, which grew into an elementary school and a separate high school. Today, nearly a quarter of Papua New Guinea’s population is Roman Catholic, second only to indigenous beliefs.

In 2001, Wald thrice received international recognition. Pope John Paul II honored him with the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, Queen Elizabeth II bestowed the Officer of the British Empire Medal and the Papua Guinea government gave their Independence Medal to him.

He is survived by two brothers, Alex and Fr. Edward Wald, SVD; and two sisters, Mary Bujnovsky and Ann Ziegler.