Jesuit Journeys
Winter 2006

In Memoriam

James E. Garvey, SJ

Willing to lend a hand wherever needed, Br. James E. Garvey, 71, died of pancreatic cancer in his room in the Jesuit Community at St. Camillus on Jan. 4 in Wauwatosa, Wis.

Born March 24, 1934 and raised in Milbank, S.D., Jim entered the Society of Jesus at Florissant, Mo. in 1955. In 1961 he went to work for Fr. Gus Giunta, SJ in the office of the Jesuit Seminary Guild in Milwaukee. Between 1974 and 1988 he worked at Marquette University High School and discovered he had a great talent for making pottery. After a year of studies at Loyola University in New Orleans, Jim returned to Marquette High to teach art (1989- 93). His beautiful pottery often became gifts of art to school and friends.

In 1997 Jim was missioned to Creighton Prep in Omaha and served the community as minister. He suffered a stroke in 2002, necessitating a move to St. Camillus. When doctors diagnosed cancer, Jim chose to forego treatment. His last year was marked by service to his St. Camillus community and by a dignified and peaceful, if sometimes painful, wait for the Lord.

James P. Kramper, SJ

A man who enjoyed priesthood and Jesuit life immensely, Fr. James P. Kramper, 93, died Dec. 9 in Wauwatosa, Wis. of complications from Parkinson’s disease.

Born April 11, 1912 in Omaha, he entered the Jesuits in 1931 following graduation from Creighton Prep. He taught at Campion Jesuit High School before ordination (1938-41). He served the school again (1946-53) in admissions and student recruitment.

In 1953 Creighton University President Carl Reinert asked Jim to plan and build a new library. The Reinert Memorial Library was completed in 1961; Jim was director until 1977. From 1978-81 he worked in development, visiting donors in California.

Around the time of Carl’s death in 1980, Jim turned his attention to parishes, assisting at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Omaha (1977-78) and at Queen of Apostles Parish in Council Bluffs (1981-87). He loved the people and they enjoyed, as one parishioner put it, his “humor, a 5-minute sermon, and a thought you could carry with you through the week.”

Limited by the effects of Parkinson’s disease, he moved to the Jesuit Community at St. Camillus in 2003.

Paul J. Kempker, SJ

World War II veteran Br. Paul Kempker died Sept. 16 at St. Camillus Health Center in Wauwatosa, Wis. He was 89.

Born Aug. 12, 1916 in Carroll, Iowa, Paul enlisted in the U.S. Army 5 years after graduating from high school. He was standing on a hill overlooking Pearl Harbor when the Japanese planes attacked the American fleet there on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. It was a day and an event he never forgot.

When the war ended Paul joined the Society of Jesus at Florissant. In 1955 when the Wisconsin Province split off from the Missouri Province, Paul was sent to Campion Jesuit High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, where he worked in the bursar’s office and the mail room.

When Campion closed its doors in 1975, Paul went to Creighton Prep in Omaha and helped in the business office. He lived at Prep until 1997 and moved to St. Camillus in 2002. He died quietly in his room there early in the morning.

Gerald F. McKeever, SJ

Br. Gerald F. McKeever, 93, a man who, when his wife of 11 years passed away, wanted to devote himself to God, died Nov. 3 in his room at St. Camillus Health Center in Wauwatosa, Wis. He was a Jesuit Brother for 53 years.

Born April 10, 1912, Gerry grew up on a farm near Stiles. He taught science in high schools in central Wisconsin, at Pulaski, Oconto, and Sturgeon Bay. He married Dorothy Stangel of Manitowoc in 1938, and they taught school in the Panama Canal Zone from 1941-47.

Gerry entered the Society of Jesus in January 1952, three years after Dorothy died. For many years (1955-83) he managed the office of the Jesuit Seminary Guild. Later he guided retreatants at the Jesuit Retreat House in Oshkosh, Wis. (1983-86 and 1991-95) and visited shut-ins in Milwaukee (1986-91). His final years were spent in Wauwatosa with the St. Camillus Jesuit Community. Having spent four decades in the lay world and more than five as a Jesuit, what he wanted most at the end of his life was to be united with God and re-united with his wife.