Fr. Donald Fitzsimmons, CSV, died on Friday at the age of 93 in his 75th year of religious life and 66th year of priesthood.
Fr. Don early in his religious life.
In his religious life, which began with his first vows on August 15, 1951, Fr. Don had a prolific resume of studies and ministry. He earned a bachelor’s, two master’s, a graduate diploma, and a doctorate, studying mostly history and religious studies, and he also trained in counseling. His ministry, mostly around Illinois, was partly as a teacher and educational administrator and partly working as a counselor for people struggling with substance abuse.
When our professed men used to study at the Viatorian Seminary in Washington, DC, Fr. Don earned his doctorate from Catholic University of America in DC and taught on the seminary faculty. His time in the nation’s capital with students such as Fr. James Fanale, CSV, Fr. Tom Long, CSV, Fr. John Palmer, CSV, Fr. Patrick Render, CSV, and Fr. Erwin Savela, CSV, included the civil rights era and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Fr. Tom remembered the curfews and eerie silences as the group witnessed some of the sights of the riots from their rooftop, and Fr. Don recalled the experience of driving around the following day. “We didn’t know it at the time, but what we were smelling was tear gas,” he said.
Fr. Don’s photos from the 70s and 80s are exceptional, but even more so when considering one couldn’t preview the photos as they were taken!
Having retired in 2001, Fr. Don had the blessing of nearly 25 years with his brothers in the retirement wing of the Province Center. Like many other Viatorian teachers, former students – now grown adults – would come to the Province Center to catch up. In 2018, two alumni of Spalding Institute in Peoria, IL, visited Fr. Don and Br. Donald Houde, CSV, who they had as teachers in the 1960s. “I still remember all the lessons and values they taught me,” Tom Wake, Class of 1965, said.
In retirement, Fr. Don enjoyed walks, outside when the weather allowed, but he also persistently walked the long hallways of the Province Center to stay active daily. He was an expert of horticulture, well-versed in all that grows around the Viatorian campus. The Viatorian archives hold a beautiful collection of photography from Fr. Don, including amazing floral closeups from the 1970s and 1980s that he snapped with his keen eye long before digital cameras and preview screens changed photography.
Fr. Don Fitzsimmons (left) and Fr. Don Wehnert (right), together again (finally!) in February 2024.
As professed Viatorians study and serve all around the province, they may only connect periodically in various ways over the years. For the late Fr. Don, it was crossing paths again with Fr. Don Wehnert, CSV. They roomed together during formation and undergraduate studies in the late 1940s and early 1950s and professed first vows on the same day in 1951 – yet they never served in the same place. When Fr. Don moved into the retirement wing from Kankakee, IL, in 2024, they were reunited as housemates over 70 years after professing vows together. Bittersweetly, Fr. Don Wehnert is now the senior professed member of the community, as his brother who began religious life on that same day has now passed on.
May Fr. Donald Fitzsimmons rest in peace.