December 9, 1945–March 30, 2023
Brother Paul Chase, C.PP.S., 77, died in the infirmary at St. Charles Center, Carthagena, Ohio, on Thursday, March 30, 2023. He had been in failing health for several months, after a fall.
He was born December 9, 1945, in Fairbank, Iowa, to Frank and Amber (Deaton) Chase. He entered the Congregation at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind., in 1965 and was professed on August 15, 1966.
Brother Paul spent his life as a religious brother in ministry at St. Charles Center in Carthagena, Ohio, where he worked as a farmer and dairy herdsman in his earlier years, and also raised chickens and other poultry, including several specialty breeds. Brother Paul also cared for the peacocks who preened near St. Charles’ lakes.
Brother Paul is survived by his sister Carol (Gary) Nuss, Oelwein, Iowa; two brothers, David (Pat), Fairbank; and Tracy, Independence, Iowa; a sister-in-law, Judy Chase, Fairbank; several nieces and nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews; and the Staugler family, his second family during his years at St. Charles.
He was preceded in death by his parents; and two brothers, Earl and Lyle.
Brother Paul was a familiar figure around St. Charles. His daily routine included caring for his chickens in the barn behind the main building. He sold eggs to St. Charles’ neighbors and others who traveled for miles to get them. Brother Paul raised special varieties of chickens and turkeys for people who exhibit them at poultry shows, for 4-H members to take poultry projects to the fair (he was a 4-H member himself, as a boy), and for backyard enthusiasts who want to populate their own chicken coops.
In the afternoons, Brother Paul would patrol the grounds, picking up trash, sticks and other debris, his faithful cat named Dog running alongside the motorized cart he had to use in later years.
Brother Paul knew poultry people across the United States, and they come to him to buy birds, for advice or just to talk birds. With the help of his friend, Tom Staugler, he brought birds to auctions and sales.
He loved his life on the farm at St. Charles; he joined the Congregation in part because “they had cows,” he once said. (St. Charles was famous for its Brown Swiss dairy herd in those years.) He saw livestock and his poultry flocks as part of God’s creation, worthy of the best care he could give them. He never stopped learning about them, studying their ways.
A Mass of Christian Burial was held in Assumption Chapel at St. Charles Center on Tuesday, April 4 at 2 p.m., with Fr. Jeffrey Kirch, C.PP.S., provincial director, presiding. Fr. Matthew Keller, C.PP.S., was the homilist. Burial followed in the Community Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, United States Province.
May he rest in peace.