Father Richard Kraft, a Divine Word missionary for 48 years, died Oct.
2, 2003, at the Divine Word Residence in Techny, Ill. He was 81.
Father Kraft was born in Rochester and attended St. Charles Borromeo
School and Aquinas Institute, both in Rochester. He served in the South
Pacific as an aerial gunner in the Army Air Force during World War II.
After attending the University of Notre Dame for two years, he entered
the Society of the Divine Word Seminary in Techny in 1947 and was
ordained in 1955. His service as a missionary in the Philippine Islands
for 44 years included assignments as director of diocesan radio
stations and seminary formation work. He returned to the U.S. and
retired in 2000.
Surviving Father Kraft are his sisters, Bernice Conover and Marian
Smith, both of Rochester; and his brothers, Donald of Enfield, N.Y.,
and James of Rochester.
His funeral liturgy was celebrated at the Divine Word Residence with
burial in the community’s cemetery.
