RIP: Rev. Tim Vakoc
From the Associated Press:
The Rev. Tim Vakoc, a Minnesota priest who was gravely wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq five years ago, has died. He was 49.
Vakoc, who was believed to be the first military chaplain wounded in Iraq, died Saturday at a nursing home in suburban New Hope, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said Sunday.
Vakoc was an Army chaplain on May 29, 2004, when the blast cost him an eye and severely damaged his brain as he was returning from celebrating Mass with troops near Mosul.
The major was hospitalized for four months at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, and was transferred in a near coma to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minneapolis in October 2004.
After many surgeries and infections, he slowly started to recognize friends and family, and began to communicate with squeezes of the hand or slight smiles. In the fall of 2006, he spoke for the first time in 2 1/2 years.
Our condolences go out to Father Tim and his family. From his Caring Bridge site:
A wake for Fr. Tim will be held at Gearty Delmore Funeral Chapel in Plymouth Minnesota on Thursday June 25, 2009. His funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m on June 26, 2009, at St. Paul Cathedral in St. Paul, MN. For further information about Fr. Tim’s funeral arrangements, please contact the funeral home. The telephone number is: 763-537-4511.
The StarTribune produced this touching slide show back in 2007.
Share this post
