Obituary of Father Jude Molnar

Father Jude Molnar, 81, of Troy Lane, Fairmont, WV, passed away early Wednesday evening. He was born October 20, 1934 in Cleveland, OH, son of the late Louis and Mary Riley Molnar. Father Jude graduated from Cathedral Latin High in Cleveland, OH in 1954 and entered the Franciscan Preparatory Seminary in Hollidaysburg, PA in 1957, professed firs vows in 1959. He continued graduate studies in Philosophy and Theology at Catholic University in Washington, DC. He was ordained a Franciscan Roman Catholic Priest in 1966. Father Jude started out his academic life as a high school dropout, working in the private sector until he made up his mind to go into the priesthood. He finished his academic career with two master’s degrees in history and sociology. In 1964 as a seminarian at Catholic University, and while Congress was debating and filibustering the Civil Rights Act, Jude helped organize, and with many other seminary students of various denominations, stood vigil at the Lincoln Memorial, rain or shine, for 57 days. He later served in the Franciscan Missions in Paraguay. While there he built and sustained seven one-room elementary schools. He later taught high school in St. Cloud, Minnesota and Warren, Ohio. He served as the Chaplin for Fairmont State University in Fairmont, WV for 38 years, where he taught race class gender, death and dying, and global crisis. He also served as a professor at West Virginia University, in Morgantown, WV. In his later years, he visited in Spain, France, Greece, Turkey, Italy, China, Poland, and Germany. He is survived by a brother and his wife, Thomas and Julie Molnar of West Farmington, OH, a sister and her husband, Mary Elizabeth and Louis Lamatrice of Columbus, OH, and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by two brothers, Louis and Karl Molnar and 1 sister, Margaret Kurczek. A memorial dinner and celebration will be held Sunday afternoon, August 21, 2016 at 1pm in the Knights of Columbus in Fairmont, WV. Reservations may be made for the memorial dinner and celebration by calling Nancy Smigocki, J.D. Parks, Kathleen Waitkus, or Jim Ice. All memorial donations be made to Fairmont State College, Locust Ave., Fairmont, WV. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Ford Funeral Home, Ford Chapel, 201 Columbia St., Fairmont, WV. Online condolences may be made to www.FORDFUNERALHOMES.com.