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By Voice staff
Until the last year of his life when he became very
ill, Father Joseph Welch would bring ice cream treats to the students
at Queen of All Saints School in Concord. During this annual ritual, “Father
Joe” would visit each classroom and chat with the children, recalls
Ellie Anderson, parish secretary.
“He was a very gentle soul,” said Anderson. During his six
years as parochial vicar at the Concord parish, he helped out with baptisms
— “which he loved to do” — and was a faithful
member of a RENEW group.
Beverly Turkovich, one of the participants, praised Father Welch for the
“wisdom he brought to us. We felt so privileged to have him as a
member.”
Father Welch served at Queen of all Saints from 1995-2001, when he retired
from the active ministry and moved to Mercy Care and Retirement Center
in Oakland.
He died there on Feb. 28 at the age of 78.
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Joe Welch served in the Army from 1945-1953
and then received a bachelor’s degree in political science from
U.C. Berkeley. He worked as a property assessor for Contra Costa County
from 1958 until 1985 while living in Martinez. During this time, he cared
for his mother who died in 1982.
In 1985 he entered Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wisconsin,
a seminary for men with “second career vocations.” He was
ordained to the priesthood on May 24, 1991, at St. Bede Church in Hayward
and served as parochial vicar of Holy Spirit Parish in Fremont until 1995,
when he was assigned to Concord.
A Mass for Christian Burial was celebrated on March 5 at St. Catherine
of
Siena Church in Martinez. Burial took place at Queen of Heaven Cemetery
in Pleasant Hill.
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