Obit: Kaiser, Roman Francis Rev. #2 (1932 - 2008)

Contact: Stan

Surnames: Kaiser, Strohman, Paul, Tracey, Townsend, Lindner, Herkert

----Source: Marshfield News Herald (Marshfield, Wood County, Wis.) Tuesday, 16 Sept. 2008

Kaiser, Roman Francis Rev. (2 Apr. 1932 - 14 Sept. 2008)

LOYAL, WIS. -  Rev. Roman Kaiser, 76, of Loyal, died Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008, at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 19, at St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Loyal.

Visitation will be from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. Thursday and from 10 a.m. until service time Friday, both at the church.

Arrangements are pending at Cuddie Funeral Home in Loyal.

----Source: Marshfield News Herald (Marshfield, Wood County, Wis.) Thursday, 18 Sept. 2008

LOYAL The Rev. Roman F. Kaiser, Col. USAF (retired), at the age of 76 and a priest for 50 years, died on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008, in the Palliative Care Unit at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield.

The Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 19, 2008, at St. Anthony's Catholic Church, in Loyal. The Most Reverend Bishop Jerome E. Listecki will preside. Burial will follow in the parish cemetery with military rites conducted by a U.S. Air Force honor guard. His nephews will serve as pallbearers.

Visitation will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. today, with Knights of Columbus rosary service at 7 p.m., followed by a Vespers and Vigil service, at St. Anthony's Catholic Church, in Loyal. There will also be visitation from 9:30 a.m. until service time on Friday at the church.

Roman Francis Kaiser was born on April 2, 1932, in Stratford, to Frank and Anna (nee Strohman) Kaiser. He attended St. Joseph Grade School in Stratford, then entered the Salvatorian Seminary in St. Nazianz in 1946. In 1952 he entered St. Paul Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., where he obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees. He was ordained a priest by the Most Reverend John P. Tracey on May 24, 1958, at Christ the King Chapel, Holy Cross Seminary, La Crosse. He celebrated his First Mass at St. Joseph, Stratford, his home parish, on May 25, 1958. Father Kaiser's first assignment was full-time instructor and athletic director for five years at Regis High School, Eau Claire, and was assistant pastor at St. Patrick and Sacred Heart Parishes. In June 1963, he was granted permission to seek a Chaplaincy in the Armed Forces. In August 1963, Fr. Kaiser received a commission as a Catholic chaplain to the United States Air Force from President John F. Kennedy. He received his basic training at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas. His first assignment was to Hamilton AFB, Calif., and eventually sent to Kadena AFB, Okinawa, Japan. After the Vietnam War, he was commissioned to the Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo., and later to an Air Force Base in Greece. Upon his return to the states, he served at Adair AFB, Oregon, followed by Williams AFB, Chandler, Ariz. In 1979, Father Kaiser earned the recognition of full Colonel in the U.S. Air Force and was reassigned a second term at the Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo. His next assignment was Elmendorf AFB, Anchorage, Alaska, where he served as Command Chaplain for the Air Force, Army, Navy and Coast Guard in that state. He then served as Command Chaplain at Air Force bases in Weisbaden and Ramstein, Germany. His next assignment was Marsh AFB, Calif., and later transferred to Norton AFB, Calif., where he served for 31/2 years as Chaplain Inspector and team chief of the U.S. Air Force Chaplaincy, which took him to 72 bases around the world. Father Kaiser retired from the military in 1990. In his travels throughout the world, he served thousands of people of all faiths.

He accepted the call from the Most Reverend Bishop John Paul of the La Crosse Diocese in April 1990 and was appointed Pastor of St. Anthony's Parish, Loyal, where he served 18 years until the time of his death.

Fr. Kaiser gave wholeheartedly to all he served and treated everyone with compassionate love and saw the good in everyone. To quote Father, "My job basically is to help people understand the beauty of who they are and to help them come alive." His favorite saying, "ISN'T GOD GOOD!"

Father Kaiser is survived by four sisters, Cecelia Townsend, Riverview, Mich., Helen (Frank) Lindner, Loyal, Sister Catherine Kaiser FSPA, Port Edwards, and Dora Ann (Lawrence) Herkert, Marshfield; two brothers, James (Betty Lou) Kaiser, Marshfield, and Thomas (Sandra) Kaiser, New Berlin; sister-in-law, Janet Kaiser, Halder; many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews and cousins.

Preceding him in death are his parents; two brothers, Eugene and Hilary Kaiser; brother-in-law, John Townsend; and niece-in-law, Lynn Herkert.

In lieu of flowers, Father Kaiser's family asks that memorials be given to St. Anthony Parish, Loyal.

Cuddie Funeral Home, Loyal, is assisting Father Kaiser's family and the Diocese of La Crosse with arrangements.

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