Father Gerald Zeman dies

FORT DODGE - Father Gerald Zeman, 73, died March 21 at Trinity Regional Hospital in Fort Dodge.

Visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. on Easter Sunday at Resurrection of Our Lord Church in Pocahontas with a rosary at 5 p.m. and vigil service at 6:30 p.m.

An 11 a.m. funeral Mass will be celebrated at Resurrection of Our Lord Church on Easter Monday, March 28, with the diocesan administrator, Msgr. Roger Augustine, as the main celebrant. Priests of the diocese will concelebrate. Father Jerry Cosgrove will deliver the homily.

Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, Pocahontas, in a family plot.

Father Zeman was born on July 10, 1931 in Pocahontas, the son of the late Roy and Elizabeth (Stanek) Zeman. He attended Roosevelt School No. 6 - Pocahontas Public School, Pocahontas Catholic High School, Loras College and Mount St. Bernard Seminary in Dubuque. He earned a master's degree in education from Creighton University, Omaha.

Prior to the priesthood, Father Zeman served four years in the Navy.

He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Joseph M. Mueller on June 1, 1963 in a ceremony held at the Cathedral of the Epiphany.

Father Zeman served as the assistant pastor at St. James and faculty at Gehlen High School, LeMars; faculty member at Bishop Garrigan High School in Algona with residence at St. Joseph, Wesley; assistant pastor at Our Lady of Good Counsel and faculty at OLGC High School, Fonda; assistant pastor at St. Bernard's and faculty/administration at St. Bernard's High School, Breda; pastor at St. Joseph, Sioux Rapids while on faculty at St. Mary High School, Storm Lake; pastor at St. John, Gilmore City while attending St. Patrick on the Lizard; pastor at St. Cecilia, Sanborn; pastor at St. Mary, Rock Valley; pastor at St. Ann, Vail; pastor at St. Francis of Assisi and chaplain at the men's/women's reformatory, Rockwell City; pastor at St. Joseph, Schaller; pastor at Sacred Heart, Ruthven and Sacred Heart Ayrshire; pastor at Sacred Heart, Sutherland and St. Anthony, Primghar. He retired on July 17, 2001.

In addition to the parish and school assignments, Father Zeman served as the CYO athletic director from 1973 to 1976, was Pre-Cana director from 1973 to 1977 and also was a past CCW deanery moderator.

He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother, John Zeman.

Father Zeman is survived by a brother, Robert Zeman and his wife, Irene, of Pocahontas; and a sister, Catherine Auten and her husband, Donald, of Pocahontas.