Father Mark McGovern

Father Mark McGovern

Cedar Rapids

Father Mark McGovern, 81, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, died on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, at Stonehill Communities in Dubuque, Iowa.

He was born on March 4, 1941, in Whittmore, Iowa, to Joseph Francis and Alice Verona (Weisbrod) McGovern. He graduated from Riceville High School in 1959, attended Loras College and Mount Saint Bernard Seminary. In 1967, he was ordained at Cathedral of St. Raphael in Dubuque. Mark served in several parishes throughout the Dubuque Diocese and also taught religion at Ossian De Sales and Cresco Notre Dame High School. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy in 1982 from St. Louis University and taught at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo.

Mark had a love for music. At family gatherings he always entertained with his perfect pitch singing while playing his guitar. Besides being a member of a barbershop quartet, he loved flying his airplane, riding his motorcycle, canoeing, and especially playing games and cards with his nieces and nephews. He also enjoyed relaxing at a cabin he himself built next to a river near Cascade, Iowa.

Mark is survived by his brothers, Mike, Jim (Kathy), Terry (Janet) and Jon; sisters, Joan (Dick) Britton, Merry (Dick) Whittaker, Ruth (Marco DeGaetno) McHeyser, and Colleen (Frank Forney) McGovern; brother-in-law, Dick Luckritz; and 40 nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Joe and Verona McGovern; sisters, Kathy Luckritz and Jane Kernan; brother and sister-in-law, Art and Barb McGovern; and sister-in-law, Betty McGovern.

Mass of Christian Burial will be 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 27, at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Riceville, Iowa, with Archbishop Michael Jackels presiding and Fr. Daniel Knipper homilist. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery Riceville, Iowa. Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, at Hindt-Hudek Funeral Home, with a scripture wake service at 7 p.m. Visitation will continue on Friday at the church beginning at 10 a.m.