Obituary | Fr. James B. Wilke
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A memorial Mass for Father James B. Wilke will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, at St. Paul Church, 1223 Church Road in St. Paul.
Father Wilke, 66, died Sept. 8 of an apparent heart ailment.
Born in St. Charles, he was a graduate of Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman University) in Kirksville, Mo. He received theological training at Kenrick Seminary and was ordained to the priesthood in 1989 by Archbishop John L. May. He was 42 at the time. Earlier he had taught at Fort Zumwalt High School in O'Fallon and taught and was principal of St. Barnabas School in O'Fallon and at a school in Illinois.
Father Wilke's first assignment was as associate pastor of St. Blaise Parish in Maryland Heights. He was named associate pastor of St. Jerome Parish in north St. Louis County in 1990, St. Simon Parish in south St. Louis County in 1993 and St. John the Baptist Parish in Villa Ridge in 2004. He was appointed chaplain of St. Agnes Home, the Carmelite Child Development Center and St. Agnes Convent in Kirkwood in 2005. Father Wilke, a fourth-degree member of the Knights of Columbus, retired in 2010 with residence at St. Agnes.
Survivors include three brothers, John J. Wilke Jr., Melvin A. Wilke and Arthur W. Wilke; and three sisters, Mary Ann Hoelting, Alice M. Scarry and Joan M. Wilke. Father Wilke donated his body to science.
