Rev. Jacob ROTH

ROTH, COSELMAN, KIRBY, STADLER, HAMMOND, OLAUGHLIN, GLOEDE

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/20/2010 at 19:43:04

Decorah Public Opinion - Iowa
April 25, 2000

The Rev. Jacob Roth, 72, of Cannon, Miss., died Saturday, April 1, 2000, as he was traveling to Oelwein, Iowa. A funeral mass was held Tuesday, April 4, at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Oelwein. Burial was at Woodlawn Cemetery in Oelwein. Officiating the services were the Archbishop Jerome Hanus, OSB, as the principal celebrant; the Rev. Fredrick Fangmann; and Father Roth's two nephews, the Revs. Dan and Jim Kirby, both of the Des Moines Diocese.

Jacob Roth was born April 23, 1927, in Oelwein, the son of Jacob and Anna (Stadler) Roth. In 1949 he graduated from Loras College in Dubuque and studied theology at St. Meinrad Seminary in St. Meinrad, Ind. Father Roth was ordained into the priesthood May 16, 1953, by the Archbishop Leo Binz, in Christ the King Chapel, Loras College. He served as associate pastor of St. John Parish in Waterloo from 1953-55; Holy Trinity Parish in Luxemburg, 1955-60; Immaculate Conception Parish in Charles City, 1960-65; and St. Henry Parish in Marshalltown, 1965-69. While in Marshalltown, he also served on the faculty of Lenihan High School. He was pastor of St. Donatus Parish in St. Donatus, 1969-76; Immaculate Conception Parish in Haverhill, 1976-79; Sacred Heart Parish in Osage, 1979-84; St. Mary Parish in Ackley and St. Paul Parish in Geneva, 1984-88.

He did pastoral work in the Diocese of Jackson, Miss., 1988-91. He served as pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Preston and St. Peter Parish in Sabula, 1991-92. He then returned to Mississippi from 1992-96. From 1996 until his retirement in 1997, Father Roth served as pastor of St. John Nepomucene Parish in Fort Atkinson and Our Lady of Seven Dolors Parish in Festina.
Father Roth also served as Deanery Council moderator of the Bellevue Deanery, chaplain of the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women, regional director of spiritual renewal for the Eagle Grove and Marshalltown Deaneries, and regional co-director of spiritual renewal for the Charles City and Mason City Deaneries.

Survivors include five sisters, Ann (Donald) Coselman of Oelwein, Til (Jim) Hammond of Lakewood, Colo., Marie Kirby of Des Moines, Helen O'Laughlin of Independence and Dorothy (Tom) Gloede of Oelwein, as well as many nieces and nephews. Father Roth was preceded in death by his parents; four brothers, Joseph, Jake, John and James; and two sisters, Rose and Pauline.