WINSTON-SALEM — Father Kurt Mathias Fohn, 87, of Lexington, N.C., passed away on June 6, 2022, in Winston-Salem after a short illness. During his last days, he was continuously surrounded by his family.
A prayer vigil will be held at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 14, 2022, followed by visitation from 5 to 7 p.m. at Hayworth-Miller Funeral Home, 6685 Shallowford Road, Lewisville, N.C. The funeral liturgy will be offered at 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 15, 2022, at Holy Family Catholic Church, 4820 Kinnamon Road, Winston-Salem, N.C. Inurnment will follow at the columbarium at Holy Family Catholic Church.
Father Fohn was born on April 12, 1935, in Gadeland in Neümunster, Germany, to Michael and Käthe Fohn. After surviving World War II, he had to survive growing up in post-war Germany. In his own words, “It was a time of devastation and utter confusion,” and God, religion and church were not part of his life. His main love and talent was soccer – but his mother pushed her sons to become educated and financially successful. Following in his older brother Gerhard’s footsteps, he studied chemical engineering at Textile Finishing School in Mönchengladbach, Germany. After graduation the brothers both went to work for BASF.
He met his future wife Christel Eva Tausendfreund when he was 18. Christel and her family fled East Prussia at the end of the war and relocated to Neumünster, Germany. He said that he fell in love with her immediately. They were married Nov. 1, 1960, in a Lutheran church.
Growing up, he caught a glimpse of the Catholic faith from his father Michael and rare visits with Michael’s family in Belgium. But it was through work, when he was 26, that he found himself in a “Philosophy of Life” discussion group. Wolfgang Stabel was the lone Catholic in this group. Stabel, along with friend Father Karl Bossung, ignited a desire for the faith with logical explanations of the Church’s teachings. He became Catholic in 1964. His wife entered the Church at the same time, and they had their marriage blessed.
In 1966 he was offered a four-year assignment to Charlotte, N.C., and he moved there with his wife and their two young children, Steffen and Angela. Five years later they welcomed two more daughters, Christine and Jennifer, and made the United States their permanent home. They joined St. Vincent De Paul Church in Charlotte and became devout parishioners.
In 1978 he decided he wanted to do more than sit on the sidelines of his faith and was accepted into the Diocese of Charlotte’s newly-established Permanent Diaconate Program. During his formation, BASF transferred him to New Jersey, so he finished his formation studies and was ordained for the Diocese of Paterson, N.J. He was assigned to serve at Our Lady of the Magnificat Parish in Kinnelon, N.J.
In 1991, the family moved back to Charlotte, where they rejoined St. Vincent de Paul Parish and he continued serving God and His Church as a deacon.
In 1995, his wife died of cancer at the age of 58. Shortly thereafter, he retired after 37 years with BASF.
In 1996 he surprised his family with his application and acceptance into the Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Mass. His children were supportive of their 62-year-old father answering the call to the priesthood. They gave him a bookbag and told him they wanted frequent reports on his grades.
On June 2, 2001, he was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Charlotte by Bishop William G. Curlin, during an ordination Mass at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte. His first assignment was at St. Leo the Great Parish in Winston-Salem. Over the next 13 years, Father Fohn served the diocese in several parishes including St. Lucien in Spruce Pine, St. Bernadette in Linville, and St. Philip the Apostle in Statesville. He retired from St. Philip the Apostle Parish in 2013 at the age of 78 and moved in full-time with his son Steffen and his family. Yet because no priest ever really retires, he went right back to work at nearby St. Leo the Great Parish – celebrating Mass, hearing confessions and visiting the sick.
Father Fohn was a loving husband, Papi and Opa. He was a lifelong athlete – enjoying soccer, boxing, and running – accomplishing a sub-three-hour marathon. Up until a few days before his death, he was still committed to riding his stationary bike for one hour every day. He enjoyed classical music, working in the yard, teak and leather furniture, Chick-Fil-A, a nice glass of riesling, and praying the rosary. He also enjoyed numbers. He estimated that over a 10-year period he ran more than 25,000 miles (which equates to once around the globe), he donated 65 gallons of blood to the Red Cross, and he celebrated 10,000 Masses. He officiated at the marriages of all his children and baptized all his grandchildren. Through it all, God was always first and foremost in his life. Father Fohn believed in the power of love, humility, suffering and accepting the cross as Jesus Christ did. He looked forward to his death and called heaven “a bliss of forever happiness.”
He is preceded in death by his wife Christel; his sister Karin Grüneberg; and infant son Stefan.
He is survived by his children Deacon Steffen (Lori) Fohn of Lexington, Angela (William) Salmon of Raleigh, N.C., Christine Hinton of Crofton, Md., and Jennifer (Eric) Meyer of Downingtown, Pa.; his brother Gerhard Fohn of Kassel, Germany; his cousin Günther Schröder of Neumünster, Germany; his 13 grandchildren and two great-granddaughters.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a memorial donation to one of Father Fohn’s favorite charities: Room At The Inn, www.roomin.org, or Cross Catholic Outreach, www.crosscatholic.org.
— Catholic News Herald
Former Asheville Catholic School teacher passes away, aged 91
ADRIAN, Mich. — Dominican Sister Theresa Nightingale, formerly known as Sister Lawrence Christine, died April 24, 2022, at the ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital in Adrian. She was 91 and in the 74th year of her religious profession in the Adrian Dominican Congregation.
Sister Theresa ministered as an elementary teacher for more than four decades, serving in Michigan, Florida and North Carolina, where she taught at Asheville Catholic School from 1993 to 1994.
The Mass of Christian Burial was offered in the congregation’s St. Catherine Chapel on April 28, 2022, and interment followed in the congregation’s cemetery.
She was born in West Terre Haute, Ind., to Lawrence and Christina (Schmidt) Nightingale. She graduated from St. Joseph Academy in Adrian and earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from
Siena Heights College (now University) in Adrian.
In addition to her service at Asheville Catholic School, Sister Theresa ministered for 41 years in elementary education in Albion, Owosso, Detroit and Harper Woods, Mich.; and Vero Beach, Tallahassee, Orlando, Port Charlotte and West Palm Beach, Fla. She served three years as a housekeeper at St. John Seminary in Plymouth, Mich. She moved to the Dominican Life Center in 2010.
She was preceded in death by her parents and five brothers: Joseph, William, Gerald, Virgil and Richard. She is survived by two sisters, Marjorie Nowak of Shelby Township and Florence Dietlin of Washington, both in Michigan, other loving family and her fellow Adrian Dominican sisters.
Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Dr., Adrian, MI, 49221.
Anderson-Marry Funeral Home in Adrian was in charge of the arrangements.
— Catholic News Herald