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CHEROKEE CLERGY BECOME ARMY CHAPLANS

FATHERS LOUIS J. LYNCH & WILLARD J. CHRISTYCHEROKEE PRIESTS BECOME ARMY CHAPLANS Fr. Louis J. Lynch was ordained a priest in 1935.  He served at Sheldon and then came to Cherokee, where he served as assistant priest at the Immaculate Conception Church.  He left Cherokee in May 1940, to serve a parish in Madrid, Iowa.  In Jan 1943, left Madrid and was commissioned a 1st Lieutenant in the chaplain corps.  He was stationed at Jackson, MS Army Air base.  In Jan of 1944 he was promoted to Captain.  Father Lynch's successor at Immaculate Conception was Rev. Father Willard J. Christy.  The Rev. Christy served for three years as assistant pastor of Immaculate Conception and as athletic director and religious instructor of the parochial school in Cherokee. In Jan of 1944, Fr. Christy was commissioned a first lieutenant in the United States Army chaplain service and in Feb reported to Harvard Chaplain School. (Source: Cherokee County Historical Society Newsletter, Vol 15, Num 1, Jan 1980, Sec V, Pg 8.) REV. C. H. THADEN CLEGHORN MINISTER BECOMES MILITARY CHAPLAIN - Rev. C. H. Thaden, pastor of Presbyterian churches at Cleghorn and Meriden, received orders in March of 1944 to report on the 21st of that month to Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He was assigned there for a period for five or six weeks training, prior to entering the Chaplains Corps as a First Lieutenant. He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church in 1939.  His first pastorate was at Campbell, NE.  After about two and a half years there, the came to Cleghorn and served the Cleghorn and Mount Pleasant parish, beginning his duties Aug 1, 1941.  During this tenure at Cleghorn, he also occupied the pulpit of the church at Meriden. His family consisted of his wife and two children, a son and a daughter. Source: Cherokee County Historical Society Newsletter, Vol 15, Num 2, Feb 1980, Sec VI, Pg 9

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