Father Dale Maloy

MENDOTA – Father Dale R. Maloy, whose priestly ministry included three decades of service as an advocate and associate judge with the diocesan Marriage Tribunal, died on June 17, 2019. He was 91.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered this Saturday, June 22, at 10:30 a.m. at Holy Cross Church, 1010 Jefferson St., with Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, as the main celebrant. Father Gary Blake will be the homilist. (UPDATE: For a text of the funeral homily, click here.)

Burial will be at Holy Cross Cemetery.

A rosary at 4:15 p.m. this Friday, June 21, will be followed by visitation from 5 to 7 p.m. at Merritt Funeral Home, 800 Monroe St. Additional visitation is planned for Saturday from 9:30 to 10 a.m. at the funeral home for family and clergy arriving from out of town.

Born in Sublette on April 9, 1928, Father Maloy was the son of Ralph and Frances (Full) Maloy. He attended Holy Cross School in Mendota and Mendota High School and studied English and journalism at Western Illinois University before pursuing his vocation to the priesthood.

He studied philosophy at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, and theology at St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and was ordained by Bishop William E. Cousins on June 6, 1954, at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria.

PASTOR IN WALNUT, EARLVILLE, LASALLE

Father Maloy’s first assignments after ordination were as parochial vicar at Visitation in Kewanee and then Sacre Coeur in Creve Coeur from 1954 to 1959. He served as parochial vicar at St. Mark in Peoria, where he also was involved in Newman ministry to the students at Bradley University, from 1959 to 1967.

He was named pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Walnut in 1967, and the following year started work for the diocesan Marriage Tribunal. He was an advocate from 1968 to 1978, and an associate judge from 1978 to 1998.

During his years with the Tribunal, Father Maloy also served as pastor of St. Theresa in Earlville from 1971 to 1987 and at Holy Rosary in LaSalle from 1987 until he was granted senior status in 2003.

An avid sportsman, he played varsity basketball at Mendota High School, tennis at St. Ambrose, and semi-professional baseball. He also enjoyed golfing, duck hunting, and downhill skiing.

When he celebrated his 60th anniversary of ordination 2014, Father Maloy said that as he worked with people he would often ask himself, “‘What would our Lord do? If they were to come to Jesus directly what would he tell them?’ I tried to voice what that conclusion would be.”

Father Maloy was preceded in death by his parents, sisters Marjorie (in infancy) and Marian (Maloy) Brown, and his brother-in-law Benton Brown. He is survived by a niece, Susan Brown (Alan) Urso of Earlville, great-nephew Dan (Susan) Bohn of Rockton, and great-niece Amy Bohn of Atlanta, Georgia.

Memorials may be directed to Holy Cross Church, Mendota.