A funeral Mass was offered July 7 at St. Edward in Bloomington for retired hospital chaplain Deacon Willard Dornfeld, who died June 29 at age 91. He was buried July 7 at Fort Snelling in St. Paul.
Born in 1926, Deacon Dornfeld served in the Navy during World War II and worked for Northern States Power Company for 31 years. He was ordained to the permanent diaconate in 1992. From 1992 to 2005, he served as a chaplain at the University of Minnesota Hospital and Fairview Southdale Hospital. Deacon Dornfeld also served as a deacon at St. Edward, which he helped found in 1967, and coordinated Mass at the Masonic Cancer Center in Bloomington. He served as parish trustee and was involved with St. Edward’s sister parish in Nicaragua.
Deacon Dornfeld retired from ministry in 2005, but continued some aspects of his hospital chaplaincy. He and his first wife, Pat, who preceded in him death in 1984, had six children. He is survived by those children; his wife, Judy; three step children; 19 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
