STREATOR — A funeral Mass was offered at St. Anthony of Padua Church here on Thursday, July 8, for Father Francis “Frank” Joseph Ryan, 83, a Streator native and priest of the Diocese of Peoria for 52 years.

Father Ryan, a senior priest and pastor emeritus of St. Paul’s Parish in Odell — where he served from 1979 to 1998 — died July 4, 2010, at St. Joseph’s Nursing Home in Lacon.

His brother, Father William Arthur Ryan, was principal celebrant and homilist of the funeral Mass. Burial was in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Streator.

Born in Streator on May 5, 1927, to John D. and Alice G. (Whalen) Ryan, he attended St. Mary’s Grade School and Streator Township High School.
He served as a medical corpsman in the U.S. Naval Reserves for 18 months at the end of World War II. Upon his return, he enrolled at St. Ambrose College in Davenport, Iowa, from which he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1950.

His preparation for the priesthood was completed at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., and Father Ryan was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria on June 1, 1958.

In a 2008 interview with The Catholic Post prior to the celebration of his 50th anniversary of ordination, Father Ryan credited the “Irish faith” of his family for fostering his vocation.

“I’m sure my mother prayed that some of her children would be in religious life,” he said. In addition to his brother, who was ordained a year later, Father Ryan also has a cousin, Father Cornelius Ryan, a Holy Cross priest who served in the African missions, and aunts and cousins who devoted their lives to ministry as women religious.

His first assignments were as parochial vicar of St. Joseph’s Parish, Rock Island (1958 to 1961) and St. Mary’s, Pontiac (1961 to 1972).

For the next six years, he served as pastor of St. Ann’s Parish in Toluca, and served during the last for years of that assignment as vicar of the Henry vicariate. In 1978, he became co-pastor of St. Anne’s Parish in East Moline before his move to Odell the following year.

Following his move to senior status in 1998, he later served as chaplain of St. Joseph’s Home in Peoria from 2003 to 2004.

In the 2008 interview, Father Ryan described himself as a “people person” who enjoyed getting to know his parishioners and visiting with them and their families over the years.

He is survived by his brother, Father William Arthur Ryan of Spring Valley, and was preceded in death by brothers John and Edward Ryan and sisters Mary Laidig, Alice Ryan, Betty Salmon and Helen Ganey.