Obituaries
Missionary with deep Iowan roots served New Guineans for two decades
Father Joseph McDermott, 1925-2025
Father Joseph McDermott SVD, who was three months shy of his 100th birthday, died at Techny on Sept. 5.
Father McDermott, who was ordained to the priesthood in 1952, served as a missionary in the Archdiocese of Mount Hagen in Papua New Guinea from 1953 to 1976. He provided pastoral care in the Catholic Mission in Ambullua, a Highlands region of the world’s second largest island.
The Highlands, home to numerous tribes, was about a half an hour by plane or ten hours by treacherous road. As a missionary, Father McDermott traveled countless miles to reach the people he served.
In 1976, Father McDermott returned to the United States to work as assistant business manager at Divine Word College in Epworth, Iowa. He assisted the business office for 20 years.
In 1977, he filled in for Father William Hegarty SVD at St. Anselm in Chicago when Father Hegarty had to retire due to health reasons.
The eldest of Ambrose and Ruth (nee Kennedy) McDermott’s 12 children, he was born in Bankston, Iowa, in 1925. He was born into a long history of McDermotts in Iowa. His great-grandfather, James McDermott, was a miner who settled in Dubuque County in 1833 and began farming in 1837.
As a boy, he aspired to be a Major League Baseball player. Instead, he celebrated countless baptisms and funerals. Father McDermott entered the Society of the Divine Word in 1939 at age 13 and professed vows in 1945. He celebrated 80 years in religious vows this year.
He moved to Techny in 2024.
Father McDermott’s wake took place on Sept. 12 in the chapel of the Divine Word Residence at Techny, followed by his funeral Mass. Additional events took place at Divine Word College in Epworth, Iowa. Father McDermott will be buried at St. Johns Cemetery in Pleasant Grove, Iowa.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in the name of Father Bisson can be made for the care of elderly and infirm missionaries and sent to The Rector, Divine Word Residence, 1901 Waukegan Road, P.O. Box 6000, Techny, IL 60082-6000.
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