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Father Timothy Vakoc dies Print E-mail
By The Catholic Spirit   
Sunday, 21 June 2009
Father Timothy Vakoc, a Minnesota Army chaplain who was seriously injured in Iraq in 2004, died June 20, according to an entry on his CaringBridge Web site. No cause of death was given.

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Father Timothy Vakoc greeted Msgr. Aloysius Callaghan, rector of the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity of the University of St. Thomas, after receiving the 2007 Distinguished Alumnus Award at the seminary in April 2007. - Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit
Visitation is from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 25, at Gearty-Delmore Funeral Chapel, 15800 37th Ave., N., in Plymouth. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday, June 26, at the Cathedral of St Paul.

Father Vakoc, 49, had been living at the St. Therese of New Hope nursing facility in New Hope. He lost an eye and sustained brain damage when a roadside bomb exploded near his Humvee on May 29, 2004, as he was returning to his barracks after celebrating Mass for U.S. soldiers.

In recent years, he had been showing signs of physical and cognitive improvement.

A June 11 entry on Father Vakoc’s CaringBridge site noted that he participated with family and friends in a special Mass June 10 celebrating the 17th anniversary of his ordination, five years of post-accident life and appreciation for all those who were contributing to his care.

It said members of the Franciscans Brothers of Peace were praying regularly with Father Vakoc (pronounced VAH-kitch), who followed along in a prayer book and mouthed the words.

“His attention to the prayers and singing is a sign that his comprehension is deepening, and that he is picking up on more things happening around him,” the entry said. “Another sign of expanding comprehension is his participation in the Bible study held at the nursing home.”

Father Vakoc, who graduated from Benilde-St. Margaret’s School in St. Louis Park in 1978 and then from St. Cloud State University, served as associate pastor at St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony from 1992 to 1993 and St. John Neumann in Eagan from 1993 to 1996 before joining the Army. He was stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., when he was called up for active duty in Iraq in September 2003.

Father Vakoc received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. He also received the 2007 Distinguished Alumnus Award from St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity and the Combat Action Badge in 2007, which is awarded to soldiers actively engaged in a hostile action by the enemy in a combat zone or imminent danger area.

Related: Father Tim Vakoc dies; remembered as 'a man of peace'

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