Maurice Gallagher

FATHER GALLAGHER

Waukon

His Heavenly Father has called him home. His earthly work is done.

Father Maurice Orlando Gallagher was born May 4, 1921, in Hanover Township, Iowa, the son of Maurice Francis and Estella (Dahlen) Gallagher. He was baptized and confirmed at St. Mary's Hanover Catholic Church

and graduated from Immaculate Conception High School in Lansing, Iowa, in 1939. In September 1939, a somewhat reluctant seminarian reported to the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio. Somewhat reluctant? Yes, but the price was right for an education, $100 a year for tuition, room and board. Somewhat reluctant? Yes, but he stayed for 11 years. He had heard the call. He was ordained into the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church on June 3, 1950.

Prior to his ordination, he had volunteered for assignment to Pueblo, Colo., the area of the country most in need of priests at that time. Following his ordination, he was assigned as assistant pastor to Sacred Heart Cathedral in Pueblo. Subsequent assignments as pastor included St. Joseph's Parish in Salida, Colo., and St. Mary's Parish in Walsenburg, Colo. From 1979 to 2000, Father Gallagher served as pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Avondale, Colo., with missions in Boone and Fowler.

Father Maurice, as he was known to family, friends, and parishioners, carried the faith and rural Midwestern values he acquired growing up in northeast Iowa into his ministry. For most of his career, he served in areas which were economically depressed. He was known for his service to those in need, service which also extended beyond the members of his parish to the hundreds of migrant workers and their families who annually toil in the fields around Avondale, Colo.

There was no pretension in this man. He was as comfortable in his faded blue jeans doing chores in a stable as he was in the vestments worn in the more formal aspects of his ministry. He was down to earth, strong-willed, single-minded and driven to serve others. Father Maurice had a special ability to fix broken lives, console people's sorrow, and comfort them when they lost someone important in their lives. He recognized that to properly minister to the spiritual needs of those he served, their physical and emotional needs also required attention. That was the foundation of his ministry. He would not let bureaucracy stand in his way when serving others.

"All I do," Father Maurice would say, "is what I'm supposed to do. A priest has to be a servant of the people. If he's not, he's missing his calling." Through 65 years as a priest, Father Maurice never missed his calling. His mission was "to act justly, love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8) And he did.

Rest in peace Padre.

Father Maurice Orlando Gallagher, 94, died Monday, May 25, 2015, at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon.

He is survived by two sisters, Idella (Bernard) Bresnahan of Waukon and Karen Sweet of Minneapolis; and three brothers, Robert (Connie) of Waukon, Joe (Inez) of Dorchester, Iowa, and Donald (Charlene) of Bossier City, La.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Vernon Gallagher and Thomas Gallagher; and sister, Dorothy Deeny.

Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday, May 30, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Hanover. Burial will be at St. Mary's Cemetery, Hanover. Friends may call from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, May 29, at Martin Funeral Home in Waukon, where there will be a 3:45 p.m. Scripture service. Honorary casketbearers are all of Father Maurice's nieces and nephews. Casket-bearers are Maury Gallagher, Greg Whalen, Leonard Bulman, Floyd Mount, Tom Tierney, Joe Gallagher Jr., David Mulholland, Don Gallagher Jr., Shawn Gallagher and Rob Sweet.

The family requests memorials in lieu of flowers. Memorials may be sent to Los Pobres Center for the Poor, P.O. Box 304, Avondale, CO 81022 or dropped off at Martin Funeral Home in Waukon. Father Gallagher is the founder of Los Pobres Center for the Poor which serves farm workers from Southern Colorado weekly.

A memorial Mass will be celebrated in the near future at Sacred Heart Church in Avondale, Color.

Arrangements are pending.

Online condolences may be left at www.martinfunerals.com.