BELLEVUE, OHIO - Father Emil Dinkel, C.PP.S., 78, died at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center Feb. 20 after the car he was driving crashed into a tractor-trailer on U.S. 20, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol.

Father Dinkel was in the passing lane; it is assumed that his car was in the blind spot of the semi in the driving lane. The truckdriver started turning left, and Father Dinkel struck the tractor-trailer.

Father Dinkel had several assignments in the Diocese of Dodge City. He was serving in team ministry in the parishes at Elkart, Hugoton and Satanta when he retired from active ministry in the diocese in 2000.

At the time of his death, Father Dinkel lived and ministered at the Sorrowful Mother Shrine in Bellevue.

Survivors include two brothers, Ralph (Bubina) Dinkel,Virgil Dinkel; and one sister, Arnita Scheck. He was preceded in death by his parents, three brothers, Edward, Alfred J, and Alvin C.; and three sisters, Sister Appolonia, CSA, Sister Lioba, CSA, and Anna Laura Miller.

Father Dinkel was born to Peter A. and Anna Mary (Haberkorn) Dinkel on Nov. 13, 1925 at Walker, Kansas. He was ordained to the priesthood at St. Charles Seminary, Carthagena, Ohio, on May 18, 1952, for the Society of the Precious Blood.

His first assignment was to St. Anthony Parish, Detroit, where he served as an assistant pastor from 1952 to 1954.

Father Dinkel spent the next 11 years in Chile serving in the Precious Blood Vicariate. As an assistant at Holy Family in Rio Negro from 1955 to 1957; at St. Joseph, Santiago, from 1958 to 1959, and St. Dominic, Santiago, from 1960 to 1965. While at St. Dominic, he also served as principal at St. Gaspar School. He then returned to St. Joseph, Santiago, and served as pastor from 1965 to 1966.

His next assignment took him to Cleveland where he was an assistant at Our Lady of Good Counsel and Catholic Chaplain at Deaconess Hospital from 1966 to 1967.

The Diocese of Dodge City then became his home for five years when he served as pastor at St. Mary, Garden City, from 1968 to 1973.

His next assignments would again take him to South America where he served in Precious Blood Missions as pastor at Christ the King, La Oroya, Peru, from 1973 to 1975; assistant pastor at St. Francis de Borja, Lima, Peru, in 1975, and as principal again at St. Gaspar School in Santiago, Chile from 1976 to 1978.

Father Dinkel rejoined the Diocese of Dodge City as coordinator of ministry to Hispanics, a post he held from 1978 to 1983. He served as pastor of St. Raphael, Syracuse, and St. Bernadette, Johnson from 1983 to 1986.

He then served in to pastorates in North Dakota parishes: St. Mary, Hague (1986-1989) and St. Katherine, Braddock (1989 to 1992)

In 1992 to 1996, Father Dinkel worked in pastoral team ministry, serving in the parishes in Elkhart, Hugoton, and Satanta. In 1996, while remaining pastor of Satanta, he was appointed pastor of St. Helen, Hugoton.

A Mass of Resurrection was celebrated in Ohio. The family requests memorials to be made to Sorrowful Mother Shrine, PO Box 319, Bellevue, OH 44811-0319.