O'BEE - Jerry O'Bee, of Ada, died on January 17, 2011 of congestive heart failure at the age of 77.
Jerry was a Catholic priest in Detroit for 15 .5 years. In 1975 he moved to Grand Rapids. Jerry influenced many young adults as the campus minister (Newman Chaplain) at universities in the Detroit area, among them, Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, The University of Michigan (Dearborn Campus), Macomb County Community College, Lawrence Tech and his final six years in that capacity at Oakland University in Rochester at St. John Fisher Chapel. Jerry was Personnel Director at Clark Retirement Home as well as an insurance agent for Connecticut Mutual Life and Mass Mutual Life.
He was a life member of the Downtown Grand Rapids Lions Club since 1975 where he had been president. He was the official weekly joke-teller and a member of the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. As a care-giver for his father and mother-in-law, he was dedicated to helping caregivers. He belonged to the Area Agency on Aging, and the Council on Aging of Kent County. He also facilitated a monthly caregiver support group at St. Robert's Parish in Ada, where he was a lector at Mass and start the still-active Christian Men's Group seventeen years ago. He was committed to the importance of family owned businesses in their need to develop succession plans which led him to co-found with Dr. Camille Connelly the Family-Owned Business Movement in the Grand Rapids area which ultimately led to the Family Business Alliance and the Family-Owned Business website of Grand Valley State University.
As a member in good standing in the Catholic Church, Jerry had committed himself to modernizing the Catholic Church. The process began with the 2nd Vatican Council, where all the Bishops of the world were called to Rome by Pope John XXIII to lead the Catholic Church into the modern era.
Visitation will be Friday from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. at the O'Brien-Eggebeen-Gerst Chapel, 3980 Cascade Rd. SE. Mass of Christian Burial will be offered Saturday 10:00 a.m. at St. Robert of Newminster Church, 6477 Ada Dr. SE, Rev. Leonard Sudlik, presiding. Please no flowers. The family directs that donations in Jerry's memory be made to Clark Retirement Community, the Grand Rapids Lions Club or Faith Hospice. O'Brien Eggebeen Gerst
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