Father Mark McGovern, 81

March 4, 1941 —
Jan. 11, 2023
 
CEDAR RAPIDS - Father Mark McGovern, age 81, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, died on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, at Stonehill Communities in Dubuque, Iowa.
Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 27, 2023, at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Riceville, Iowa, with Archbishop Michael Jackels presiding and Fr. Daniel Knipper homilist. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery in Riceville. Visitation will be held from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 26, at Hindt-Hudek Funeral Home, with a scripture wake service at 7 p.m. Visitation will continue on Friday at the church beginning at 10 a.m.
Mark was born on March 4, 1941, in Whittmore, Iowa, to Joseph Francis and Alice Verona (Weisbrod) McGovern. He graduated from Riceville High School in 1959 and attended Loras College and Mount Saint Bernard Seminary. In 1967, he was ordained at Cathedral of St. Raphael in Dubuque. Fr. McGovern served in several parishes throughout the Dubuque Diocese and also taught religion at Ossian (Iowa) De Sales and Notre Dame High School in Cresco, Iowa. He received his PhD in Philosophy in 1982 from St. Louis University and taught at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo.
Fr. McGovern had a love for music. At family gatherings, he always entertained with his perfect pitch singing while playing his guitar. Besides being a member of a barbershop quartet, he loved flying his airplane, riding his motorcycle, canoeing and especially playing games and cards with his nieces and nephews. He also enjoyed relaxing at a cabin he himself built next to a river near Cascade, Iowa. 
Fr. McGovern is survived by his brothers, Mike, Jim (Kathy), Terry (Janet) and Jon; sisters, Joan (Dick) Britton, Merry (Dick) Whittaker, Ruth (Marco DeGaetno) McHeyser and Colleen (Frank Forney) McGovern; brother-in-law, Dick Luckritz;, and 40 nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Joe and Verona McGovern; sisters, Kathy Luckritz and Jane Kernan; brother, Art and (Barb) McGovern; and sister-in-law, Betty McGovern.

Cresco Times

Phone: 563-547-3601
Fax: 563-547-4602

Address:
Cresco TPD
214 N. Elm Street
Cresco, IA 52136

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