Fr. Jerome Merwick (1905-1969)

Father Jerome Merwick passed away August 17, 1969.

Father Jerome was an Atchison boy and the brother of Father Mark Merwick, O.S.B., and onetime Prior of the Community.  The Merwick family lived a few blocks from the Abbey.

After ordination in 1931 Father Mark earned a master’s degree in sociology in 1933 from the Catholic University of America.  He taught and prefected at St. Benedict’s College and was the director of Camp St. Maur for six years.

For almost 20 years Father Jerome served the Air Force as a military chaplain first in WWII and later in the Korean War.  He was called to Korea when he had just been named novice master for the community.  Father Jerome retired from the service as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1967.  He returned to the Abbey and endured a trying illness that led to his passing.