Deacon Bernard “Bernie” Dols, ordained in 1987, died April 25 at the age of 90. The Marine Corps veteran taught drafting and building construction estimating for 30 years at Dunwoody Institute (now Dunwoody College of Technology) in Minneapolis. He was also a clown for the Aqua Jesters Clown Club, entertaining people in Aquatennial parades and children’s hospitals.
Father Arnold “Michael” Sauber, whose 44 years of active ministry included six rural and urban parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and a stint leading the archdiocese’s then-Rural Life Office, died March 11. He was 81.
Deacon James Thornton, a veteran of the U.S. Navy whose active ministry in the diaconate spanned more than 20 years in Shakopee, died Feb. 23 at age 95.
Father Tom Fitzgerald — a priest known for his sense of humor and his welcoming ways — died Dec. 29 at the age of 84, with his ministry spanning 46 years in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Deacon Clarence Shallbetter, who was ordained in 2001 and served at St. Olaf and Sts. Cyril and Methodius, both in Minneapolis, as well as in prison ministry, died Nov. 9. He was 86.
Oblate of Mary Immaculate Father Ronald Harrer — a Minneapolis native who ministered as a missionary in Brazil, pastor and assistant priest of two parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and chaplain at Regions Hospital in St. Paul — died Nov. 6.
Father Robert "Bob" Valit, who had served the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis since 1978, died Sept. 21 at the age of 96 at the Little Sisters of the Poor in St. Paul.
Richard Rohlfing thought nothing of driving an hour and a half from his home to the funeral of Father Frederick Meyer Aug. 14 at St. Agnes in St. Paul. Father Meyer, who was a priest for 68 years, died Aug. 1 at age 93.
Mary Lynn Staley remembers Father Robert Schwartz’s homilies, his founding a high school in Ghana, Africa, more than 10 years ago while he was pastor of her parish, Our Lady of Grace in Edina, and his concern for people’s faith lives.
