VERY REVEREND RICHARD E. HARVEY

BREWER – Very Rev. Richard E. Harvey, 84, died Jan. 18, 2005, in Bangor, at St. Joseph Hospital. He was born April 3, 1920, in Portland, the son of Richard E. and Mary E. (McCahill) Harvey. Fr. Harvey was a graduate of Deering High School and the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass. He served as a Lieutenant and Navigator aboard a landing vessel with the U.S. Navy during World War II shuttling troops and supplies across the English Channel during the Normandy invasion. Following his military service, he attended St. Mary’s Seminary, Baltimore from 1946 to 1951 and was ordained in 1951. Fr. Harvey had a temporary assignment at Sacred Heart Church, Portland, for a few months before his assistant pastor assignment at St. John’s Church, Bangor, where he served from 1951 to 1967 and was active in the Bangor-Brewer CYO and was chaplain for the Knights of Columbus and the Daughters of Isabella. From 1967 to 1970, he served as pastor of St. Mary’s Star of the Sea, Stonington, and was the chaplain at Maine Maritime Academy. From 1970 to 1996, Fr. Harvey was the pastor of St. Joseph Church, Brewer during which time the current church and parish complex was designed and constructed where he celebrated the first Mass in June 1975. His pastorate in Brewer included service as the Dean of the Southern Penobscot Deanery for the Diocese of Portland, the Spiritual Moderator for the Bangor District, Maine Diocesan Council of Catholic Women and he was active in the Brewer Ministerial Association. He was a Board member of St. Joseph Hospital, the Eastern Regional Council of Alcohol and Drug Abuse and Maine Right to Life. Fr. Harvey acted as commissioner for the Brewer Housing Authority; served on the Board of Trustees for John Bapst Memorial High School; Maine Maritime Academy and St. Joseph Healthcare; and he was the 1991 recipient of the Mother Mary Angela Award presented by the Felician Sisters for his outstanding service to St. Joseph Healthcare and to the community at large. After retiring in 1996, Fr. Harvey had remained active in area churches substituting and serving when needed. He acquired his love of boating and nautical life during the time spent in his early years at his family’s camp on Sebago Lake and during his service in the Navy. Having spent most of his priesthood serving the families and parishioners of the Bangor-Brewer area, he had grown to know many families, intimately celebrating the joyous occasions and lending guidance, support and prayer during hardships. Described by parishioners, friends and colleagues, he was “an insightful priest who was honest, definitive and blunt with a forceful exterior wrapped around a heart of gold. His abundant reserves of charity and compassion were sources of inspiration.” He is survived by three sisters, Catherine Quinn of Rhode Island, Dorothy McGrady of Colorado, and Jean Pratt and her husband, Capt. William Pratt, of Bethesda, Md.; one brother, John D. Harvey of Bangor; several nieces and nephews. Rite of Reception and Liturgy of the Hours will be held 3 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005, at St. Joseph Catholic Church, North Main Street, Brewer, where he will lie in state from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. during which time family and friends may visit. A Mass of Christian Burial will be concelebrated 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 21, 2005, at St. John’s Catholic Church, York Street, Bangor, with the Most Rev. Richard Malone, Bishop of Portland, principal celebrant. Reception will immediately follow. Burial with military honors will be at Calvary Cemetery, South Portland at a time to be announced. In lieu of flowers, those who wish may make memorial contributions to the following: St. Joseph Catholic Church, 531 North Main St., Brewer, ME 04412; St. Joseph Hospital, care of St. Joseph Healthcare, PO Box 2305, Bangor, ME 04402-9946; All Saints Catholic School, 768 Ohio Street, Bangor, ME 04401; or John Bapst Memorial High School, 100 Broadway, Bangor, ME 04401. Arrangements by Kiley Funeral Home, 69 State St., Brewer.