Fr. Gil Wohler

WOHLER, Fr. Gil, OFM, who served as a pastor in Cincinnati and a missionary in Africa, died June 2 at St. Margaret Hall in Cincinnati. The son of Joseph and Cecilia (Gegen) Wohler, he was born in Wichita, Kan., in 1935. He pronounced solemn vows as a Franciscan friar on Aug. 16, 1957, and was ordained to the priesthood June 14, 1962, at St. Leonard College in Centerville, Ohio. A member of St. John the Baptist Province, Fr. Gil was an instructor at Roger Bacon High School and St. Francis Seminary in Cincinnati, and at Duns Scotus College in Southfield, Mich., from 1963-1975. He served the friars as Director of Vocations from 1975-1978 and in pastoral work at St. Boniface in Peoria, Ill., from 1978-1990. From 1990-1996, he served as Spiritual Director and friary guardian at St. John Vianney Seminary and St. Francis House of Studies, Pretoria, South Africa, and was a missionary at Santa Sophia in Pretoria and Banderjlpark in South Africa from 1996-2002. He was pastor of St. Francis Seraph in Over-the-Rhine from 2002 until 2005, and ministered as Retired Chaplain at the Mercy Community at Winton Woods in Mt. healthy from 2005 until his final illness. Fr. Gil is survived by his brothers in community and by his brother Kenneth of Wichita, Kan., and numerous nieces and nephews. Visitation is at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 6, at St. Clement Church, St. Bernard, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial 10 a.m. Burial is at St. Mary's Cemetery in St. Bernard.