KERNERSVILLE — Deacon Ronald Timothy “Deacon Tim” Ritchey, 75, of Walkertown, N.C., passed away peacefully Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at 11 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, at Holy Cross Church with Father Noah Carter, pastor, officiating. The family will receive visitors starting at 10 a.m. prior to the Mass at the church, located at 616 S. Cherry St. in Kernersville.
Inurnment and a committal service with military honors was held at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16, 2022, at the Holy Cross Columbarium.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., Deacon Ritchey was born on Sept. 17, 1946, the son of William Earl Ritchey and Regina Paulina McGoldrick Ritchey, both deceased. He was the husband of 55 years to Rory Ann Gould Ritchey.
He was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, and he was a volunteer firefighter and a chaplain for the Colorado State Patrol, Thornton Police Department, and Northglenn Ambulance Service.
Deacon Ritchey was ordained in 1989 for the Archdiocese of Denver, where he served until moving to the Diocese of Charlotte in 2004. He had the great honor of assisting at the World Youth Day Mass in Colorado with former Pope St. John Paul II.
He served at Holy Cross Church from October 2007 to present. Over the years, he served the Church and Holy Cross Parish in numerous ways – baptismal
preparation, RCIA, marriage preparation, nursing home and hospital visits, funeral services – as well as serving in prison ministry and as a police chaplain, and in ministry to the deaf.
He passed peacefully at Holy Cross Church and was surrounded by the people he loved.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother, Fredrick Randy Ritchey.
Survivors include his wife Rory Ann; two sons, William James Ritchey and wife, Julie, and Shawn Michael Ritchey and wife, Harlee; grandchildren Dalene Ritchey, Michael Ritchey and wife, Casey, Savannah Ritchey, and Piper Ritchey; great grandchildren Alexandria, Kylie, Maddy and Ramey-Lynne; and two sisters, Pamela Ritchey, and Francine Honeycutt.
Pierce-Jefferson Funeral & Cremation Services is in charge of the arrangements.
— Catholic News Herald
WINSTON-SALEM — Father Kurt Mathias Fohn, 87, of Lexington, N.C., passed away on June 6, 2022, in Winston-Salem after a short illness. During his last days, he was continuously surrounded by his family.
A prayer vigil will be held at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 14, 2022, followed by visitation from 5 to 7 p.m. at Hayworth-Miller Funeral Home, 6685 Shallowford Road, Lewisville, N.C. The funeral liturgy will be offered at 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 15, 2022, at Holy Family Catholic Church, 4820 Kinnamon Road, Winston-Salem, N.C. Inurnment will follow at the columbarium at Holy Family Catholic Church.
Father Fohn was born on April 12, 1935, in Gadeland in Neümunster, Germany, to Michael and Käthe Fohn. After surviving World War II, he had to survive growing up in post-war Germany. In his own words, “It was a time of devastation and utter confusion,” and God, religion and church were not part of his life. His main love and talent was soccer – but his mother pushed her sons to become educated and financially successful. Following in his older brother Gerhard’s footsteps, he studied chemical engineering at Textile Finishing School in Mönchengladbach, Germany. After graduation the brothers both went to work for BASF.
He met his future wife Christel Eva Tausendfreund when he was 18. Christel and her family fled East Prussia at the end of the war and relocated to Neumünster, Germany. He said that he fell in love with her immediately. They were married Nov. 1, 1960, in a Lutheran church.
Growing up, he caught a glimpse of the Catholic faith from his father Michael and rare visits with Michael’s family in Belgium. But it was through work, when he was 26, that he found himself in a “Philosophy of Life” discussion group. Wolfgang Stabel was the lone Catholic in this group. Stabel, along with friend Father Karl Bossung, ignited a desire for the faith with logical explanations of the Church’s teachings. He became Catholic in 1964. His wife entered the Church at the same time, and they had their marriage blessed.
In 1966 he was offered a four-year assignment to Charlotte, N.C., and he moved there with his wife and their two young children, Steffen and Angela. Five years later they welcomed two more daughters, Christine and Jennifer, and made the United States their permanent home. They joined St. Vincent De Paul Church in Charlotte and became devout parishioners.
In 1978 he decided he wanted to do more than sit on the sidelines of his faith and was accepted into the Diocese of Charlotte’s newly-established Permanent Diaconate Program. During his formation, BASF transferred him to New Jersey, so he finished his formation studies and was ordained for the Diocese of Paterson, N.J. He was assigned to serve at Our Lady of the Magnificat Parish in Kinnelon, N.J.
In 1991, the family moved back to Charlotte, where they rejoined St. Vincent de Paul Parish and he continued serving God and His Church as a deacon.
In 1995, his wife died of cancer at the age of 58. Shortly thereafter, he retired after 37 years with BASF.
In 1996 he surprised his family with his application and acceptance into the Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Mass. His children were supportive of their 62-year-old father answering the call to the priesthood. They gave him a bookbag and told him they wanted frequent reports on his grades.
On June 2, 2001, he was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Charlotte by Bishop William G. Curlin, during an ordination Mass at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte. His first assignment was at St. Leo the Great Parish in Winston-Salem. Over the next 13 years, Father Fohn served the diocese in several parishes including St. Lucien in Spruce Pine, St. Bernadette in Linville, and St. Philip the Apostle in Statesville. He retired from St. Philip the Apostle Parish in 2013 at the age of 78 and moved in full-time with his son Steffen and his family. Yet because no priest ever really retires, he went right back to work at nearby St. Leo the Great Parish – celebrating Mass, hearing confessions and visiting the sick.
Father Fohn was a loving husband, Papi and Opa. He was a lifelong athlete – enjoying soccer, boxing, and running – accomplishing a sub-three-hour marathon. Up until a few days before his death, he was still committed to riding his stationary bike for one hour every day. He enjoyed classical music, working in the yard, teak and leather furniture, Chick-Fil-A, a nice glass of riesling, and praying the rosary. He also enjoyed numbers. He estimated that over a 10-year period he ran more than 25,000 miles (which equates to once around the globe), he donated 65 gallons of blood to the Red Cross, and he celebrated 10,000 Masses. He officiated at the marriages of all his children and baptized all his grandchildren. Through it all, God was always first and foremost in his life. Father Fohn believed in the power of love, humility, suffering and accepting the cross as Jesus Christ did. He looked forward to his death and called heaven “a bliss of forever happiness.”
He is preceded in death by his wife Christel; his sister Karin Grüneberg; and infant son Stefan.
He is survived by his children Deacon Steffen (Lori) Fohn of Lexington, Angela (William) Salmon of Raleigh, N.C., Christine Hinton of Crofton, Md., and Jennifer (Eric) Meyer of Downingtown, Pa.; his brother Gerhard Fohn of Kassel, Germany; his cousin Günther Schröder of Neumünster, Germany; his 13 grandchildren and two great-granddaughters.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a memorial donation to one of Father Fohn’s favorite charities: Room At The Inn, www.roomin.org, or Cross Catholic Outreach, www.crosscatholic.org.
— Catholic News Herald
WINSTON-SALEM — Deacon Charles Robert (Bob) Desautels passed peacefully on March 6, 2022, in the presence of his daughter and surrounded by the love of his family and close friends after 73 years of a full and active life. He served the Church faithfully as a deacon for nearly 40 years.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 2 p.m. Friday, March 11, 2022, at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church, located at 355 Springdale Ave., Winston-Salem, N.C. 27104. Viewing will be held before the Mass, 1-1:45 p.m. A private burial will follow in Ashe County.
He was born March 8, 1948, to Lula Belle and Bernard Desautels in Ashe County. Eventually, their family moved to Lenoir and ran a small gas station there for many years. In his youth, he worked odd jobs including working at the gas station, driving a school bus and working in a candy factory. After graduating from North West High School in West Jefferson in 1966, he served in the U.S. Army, where he earned a Purple Heart for his service in Vietnam. He attended Appalachian State University in Boone, graduating with a degree in special education and a master’s degree in reading. He taught in Ashe County Schools for several years and presided over the Jaycees of Ashe County. He stretched his legs as an entrepreneur by owning and operating a traveling sales business prior to relocating to the Fayetteville area in the early 1980s. Wanting more stability and family time, he went to work for Piedmont Airlines and retired as shift supervisor in the technology services department at U.S. Airways.
He remained active in retirement, becoming a certified mediator and volunteer, and was named Red Cross Volunteer of the Year several times. He also rechartered Boy Scouts of America Troop 958 at St. Leo the Great Catholic Parish in Winston-Salem. He acted as the scoutmaster until all three of his sons became Eagle Scouts, and he remained active in the troop through his grandson's Eagle Scout achievement.
At 35, Deacon Desautels was also the youngest member of the Diocese of Charlotte’s first class of 19 permanent deacons, ordained on May 29, 1983.
Deacon John Martino, former head of the diocese’s permanent deacon ministry, once wrote of Deacon Desautels’ calling to become a deacon: “He was a traveling salesman who returned to his mountain home one cold Saturday to find his pipes frozen and broken. He crawled under the house and worked until 1 a.m. on the broken pipes. He had just finished fixing them but before they had thawed, his wife Peggy asked if they were going to Sunday Mass. Exhausted, he replied, ‘I am dirty and the water pipes are still frozen.’ He later recalled, ‘She persisted, so I said we would go if we have water in the morning.’ Early that morning they were awakened by the sound of ice flowing though the pipes. They went to Mass and that Sunday a letter from Bishop Michael Begley was read announcing the creation of the permanent diaconate for the Charlotte diocese. His wife urged him to apply, saying, ‘It was meant to be.’”
He prayed and discerned, and after encouragement from the program’s new formation director, Father Anthony (Tony) Kovacic, he applied and was accepted into the inaugural class.
Deacon Desautels’ vocation was meant to be, and his ministry always remained a top priority even as work transferred him to various cities. Soon after his ordination, he was transferred to Fayetteville, located in the Diocese of Raleigh. He was granted faculties and served at St. Patrick Church in Fayetteville for eight years, with an active role in the nursing home ministry there. When he was subsequently transferred to Philadelphia, he served as a deacon in a primarily Polish Catholic community. Three years later, he and his family moved back to North Carolina, to Winston-Salem. He was assigned to St. Leo Catholic Church in Winston-Salem, where besides reviving the parish’s successful Boy Scout program, he oversaw its prison ministry program for many years.
He survived by his wife of 50 years, Peggy Sue Desautels; their five children: Daniel Desautels (Johnette), Amy Deystone (Justin), Rebecca Williams (Ty), Adam Desautels (Rachel), and Paul Desautels; nine grandchildren: Francois and Dominik Desautels, Dakota and Noah Deystone, Zach and Gabe Williams, and Kiyah, Peter and Evangeline Desautels. He is also survived by siblings Teresa, Mary, Naomi and Steve, and preceded in death by his brothers Bernie and David.
Memorial contributions may be made to Maryknoll Lay Missioners, online at www.mklm.org; or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, Tenn. 38105, or online at www.stjude.org.
Salem Funeral & Cremation Services of Winston-Salem is in charge of the arrangements. Online condolences may be made at www.salemfh.com.
— Catholic News Herald
Former Asheville Catholic School teacher passes away, aged 91
ADRIAN, Mich. — Dominican Sister Theresa Nightingale, formerly known as Sister Lawrence Christine, died April 24, 2022, at the ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital in Adrian. She was 91 and in the 74th year of her religious profession in the Adrian Dominican Congregation.
Sister Theresa ministered as an elementary teacher for more than four decades, serving in Michigan, Florida and North Carolina, where she taught at Asheville Catholic School from 1993 to 1994.
The Mass of Christian Burial was offered in the congregation’s St. Catherine Chapel on April 28, 2022, and interment followed in the congregation’s cemetery.
She was born in West Terre Haute, Ind., to Lawrence and Christina (Schmidt) Nightingale. She graduated from St. Joseph Academy in Adrian and earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from
Siena Heights College (now University) in Adrian.
In addition to her service at Asheville Catholic School, Sister Theresa ministered for 41 years in elementary education in Albion, Owosso, Detroit and Harper Woods, Mich.; and Vero Beach, Tallahassee, Orlando, Port Charlotte and West Palm Beach, Fla. She served three years as a housekeeper at St. John Seminary in Plymouth, Mich. She moved to the Dominican Life Center in 2010.
She was preceded in death by her parents and five brothers: Joseph, William, Gerald, Virgil and Richard. She is survived by two sisters, Marjorie Nowak of Shelby Township and Florence Dietlin of Washington, both in Michigan, other loving family and her fellow Adrian Dominican sisters.
Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Dr., Adrian, MI, 49221.
Anderson-Marry Funeral Home in Adrian was in charge of the arrangements.
— Catholic News Herald
HIGH POINT — Father Conrad Charles Hoover, known for his gentle counsel, eclectic life and devotion to people, died Jan. 7, 2022, at Pennybyrn at Maryfield. He was 85.
A funeral Mass will be offered by Bishop Peter J. Jugis at 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022, at St. Peter Catholic Church in Charlotte. The Mass will be livestreamed by the parish: https://boxcast.tv/view/funeral-mass-of-father-conrad-hoover-wgp7eh4s70tztjdv8l0o
He was born Aug. 7, 1936, in Takoma Park, Md., the son of Hiram Charles Hoover, a district manager for Social Security, and Dorothy Culbreth Hoover. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa., in 1958, and a master’s degree in ministry from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He later earned a doctorate in ministry from The Catholic University of America.
A Presbyterian minister who also considered becoming a monk, led silent retreats and ran a bookstore at an ecumenical church, Father Hoover converted to Catholicism and was ordained to the priesthood on May 6, 1989, by Bishop William McManus at The Oratory in Rock Hill, S.C.
In the early 1990s, Father Hoover ministered to people with HIV and AIDS, and served as a hospital chaplain and airport chaplain. In his early years, he wrote for Sojourners Magazine, a national publication devoted to racial, social and environmental justice. Known for his love of reading and music, friends say Hoover’s rich tenor voice had perfect pitch. He once remarked, “I always have music in my head.”
“He was a brilliant spiritual director, providing wisdom and spiritual counsel,” said Cindy Wear, a friend of 42 years who was with him when he died. “He was kind and accepting. People could be vulnerable with him without fearing they would be judged. My whole family, even my kids, would go to him for counsel.”
Wear and husband David met Father Hoover in 1980 when he was a member of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C., where he ran the Potter’s House bookstore and served as spiritual director of silent retreats.
“A silent retreat is a challenging contemplative experience where most of your time is spent in rest, silence and prayer – like Father Hoover, it is contemplative,” Wear said. “You were silent except for preordained times, such as meals, or for spiritual counsel with Father Hoover. He would listen, and he would help you find healing.”
His apartment back then looked like a library, she said, lined with rows of bookcases you could browse. Father Hoover left an extensive collection of books, with
Trappist monk and theologian Thomas Merton among his favorite authors.
After his ordination, Father Hoover served as campus minister at The Oratory for two years, then served on the faculty of Belmont Abbey College before becoming a chaplain at Mercy Hospital in Charlotte, then ministering to people living with AIDS as the epidemic took off in the South.
Brother Joe Guyon, who lived with Father Hoover at The Oratory, said: “What sticks out with me was his kindness. He was opened to everybody – rich, poor, black or white. It made no difference.”
In 1996, Father Hoover was assigned as pastor of St. Elizabeth Church in Boone, where he served for four years before being assigned to serve as pastor at St. Ann Church in Charlotte in 2000.
With him, Father Hoover carted a photo of himself performing a pet blessing in Boone, and he was frequently accompanied by Nikita, his black lab mix.
Charlotte parishioner Clay Presley remembers Father Hoover’s homilies “presented with deep understanding and wonderful wit” at St. Ann’s in the mid-2000s. He also recalls the particularly steep price of taking Father Hoover to lunch on one occasion.
“I went to lunch with every intention of paying the bill, and I came out with sticker shock: Somehow he had sweet talked me into leading the church’s $2.2 million fundraising campaign to finish work at St. Ann’s that had begun 50 years earlier,” Presley said.
Presley’s daughter, Leann McDevitt, and her fiancé went through pre-marriage counseling with Father Hoover, and says: “I guess it worked. We’re still married and now have three beautiful daughters. Father Hoover was a blessing in our lives.”
Father Hoover also served as the diocese’s director of ecumenism and was chaplain to the Knights of Columbus Council 770 in Charlotte. He retired from active ministry in 2006.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his sister JoAnn C. Hunsicker; brother Richard W. Hoover Sr.; and nephews Howard B. Hunsicker Jr. and Richard W. Hoover Jr.
He is survived by nephews Gerald H. Hunsicker of Houston, Texas, David R. Hunsicker (Louise) of Collegeville, Pa., and Jeffrey S. Hoover of Broussard, La.; niece Phyllis Hoover Theriot; six great-nieces and -nephews; and seven great-great-nieces and -nephews.
Memorial donations can be made to the L’Arche of Greater Washington, D.C., P.O. Box 21471, Washington, D.C. 20009, or online at www.larche-gwdc.org/donate.
Tribute & Tallent Funerals and Cremations of Charlotte is in charge of the arrangements.
— Catholic News Herald