In loving memory of
Robert J. Quinn
February 24, 2006
A funeral Mass for Monsignor Robert J. Quinn will be Saturday at 10:30 AM at St. John's Catholic Church, Bancroft with the Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless, Bishop of Sioux City officiating. Burial will be in St. John's Catholic Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 4 to 8 PM Friday at St. John's Catholic Church, Bancroft, with a prayer service beginning at 7 PM followed by a Knights of Columbus Rosary beginning at 7:30 PM. Garry-Roberts-Murphy-Schaaf Funeral Home, Bancroft, in charge of arrangements.
Robert J. Quinn was born June 10, 1908 at Streator, Illinois son of James and Bridget (Prendergast) Quinn and came with his family to Whittemore in 1909 and to Bancroft in 1917. He received his early education in country schools, St. John's Grade School and graduated from St. John's High School in 1926. After attending the University of Iowa and Creighton University, he took his seminary training at St. Paul Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Monsignor Quinn was ordained March 18, 1934 by Bishop Edmond Heelan at the Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City. Monsignor Quinn served in St. Francis parish, Rockwell City; the Cathedral in Sioux City; Corpus Christi, Fort Dodge; St. Mary's, Lake City; St. Joseph parish and St. Anthony's Hospital in Carroll before going into the military service in 1944.
As a Catholic Chaplain in the United States Navy, he saw active duty in China, Japan, the South Pacific and in Hawaii; sea duty aboard aircraft carriers U.S.S. Hornet, U.S.S. Kearsage, and U.S.S Yorktown. He served at the Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Florida, on Okinawa, in Cuba, on Guam, Camp Pendleton, California and the Naval Training Center in San Diego. He advanced to the rank of Captain U.S. Navy.
After 25 years of active duty with the U.SS. Navy he retired in 1969 and was appointed pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Laurens for several months. After serving in Holy Spirit parish, Fremont, California from 1970 to 1972, he was assigned to St. Michael's parish and Veterans Hospital, Livermore, CA, where he served for seven years before moving to the San Diego area. The last eleven years of Monsignor's life were spent under close medical supervision of doctors and nurses for his Parkinsins Disease. This is why he established a scholarship for nurses at Briar Cliff University, Storm Lake in his memory. Monsignor loved golfing, reading, walking, and visiting with many relatives and close friends.
Monsignor Robert J. Quinn died Friday, February 24, 2006, at his residence in Coronado, California at the age of 97.
Robert Quinn is survived by one brother, Charles Quinn and his wife Mary of Omaha, NE; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; and nine brothers and sisters, Madeline Lattimer, James "Jay" Quinn, William "Bill" Quinn, John "Jack" Quinn, Bernard "Bert" Quinn, Thomas "Tom" Quinn, Margaret Arndorfer, Joseph "little Joe" Quinn, and Julia Goche.