Valens Waldschmidt OFM

WALDSCHMIDT, Fr. Valens, OFM, whose ministry as a Franciscan friar spanned almost 78 years, died Jan. 28 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati. The senior member of the Province of St. John the Baptist, he would have been 97 years old March 7. Legally blind for years, he maintained a passion for ministry and learning his entire life. Fr. Valens served in parish work, preached parish missions and was a teacher and retreat master, but he is best remembered for 26 years of ministry to the mentally ill at the Pauline Warfield Lewis Center (Longview) in Cincinnati. After retiring in 1998, he served as Chaplain Emeritus and had lived in retirement at St. Paul's Archbishop Leibold Home since 2004. A native of Metamora, Ill., Fr. Valens was one of five children of Dora and Harry Waldschmidt. He attended St. Francis Seminary High School in Cincinnati, Duns Scotus College in Southfield, Mich., and Holy Family Theologate in Oldenburg, Ind., where he was ordained a priest 70 years ago in 1947. He is survived by a sister, Alma DeJohn of Ocala, Fla., nieces and nephews and his Franciscan brothers. The Reception of the Body and visitation for Fr. Valens begins at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, at St. Paul's Archbishop Leibold Home, 476 Riddle Road, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m. Interment is at St. Mary Cemetery in St. Bernard. Memorials may be made to the Franciscans through Friar Works, 1615 Vine St., Cincinnati, OH 45202.