LOWELL - Father Stocklosa was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on November 3, 1915, the son of the late Joseph and Mary (Lach) Stoklosa. He died on February 1, 2008 at the D'Youville Senior Care Center. Father Stoklosa graduated from Saint Stanislaus School in Lowell in 1928 and was valedictorian of his class. In 1932, he graduated from Lowell High School, where he was editor-in-chief of the school magazines and president and valedictorian of his class. He attended Saint Mary's College in Orchard Lake, Michigan, where he won oratorical honors, and Saint John's University in Brooklyn, New York, where he won the gold medal for Scholastic Excellence.
Father Stocklosa was ordained to the Holy Priesthood on May 3, 1940, after attending Saint John's Ecclesiastical Seminary in Brighton. He celebrated his first solemn high mass in his home parish, Holy Trinity in Lowell, on May 5, 1940. Father Stocklosa was the last living member of his seminary class.
During the 68 years of his Priesthood, Father Stocklosa served at Saint Thomas Aquinas parish in Jamaica Plain and at Saint Michael's parish in West Lynn. While at St. Michael's parish, Father attended Boston College Graduate School where he obtained his Master of Arts Degree. Father Stocklosa also served as chaplain at the Home of the Little Flower in Hyde Park, and was a faculty member for four years at Saint Sebastian's Country Day School in Newton. He served at Sacred Heart parish in East Cambridge and was also the Director of the Sacred Heart Central High School. Father was also assigned to Saint Adalbert's parish in Hyde Park; Our Lady of Grace parish in Chelsea-Everett; Saint Hedwig's parish in East Cambridge; and Saint John the Baptist parish in Salem. From 1968 to 1970, Father Stocklosa was Pastor of Saint John's Church in Townsend, and from 1970 until his retirement in 1991, he was Pastor of Saint Thomas Aquinas Church in Nahant.
In the years of his retirement, Father Stocklosa helped out in his home parish, the Church of the Holy Trinity on High Street in Lowell. Father Stocklosa is the author of Do Not Weep, a book of sympathy and comfort written to help lighten the burden of grief for those who mourn a near and dear departed one.
Father Stocklosa was the brother of the late Mitchell J. Stoklosa. He is survived by his sister, Josephine M. Stoklosa and his brother, Stanley J. Stoklosa, both of Lowell; two nieces, Elizabeth Parker and Jean Bullard, both of California; two nephews, John Stoklosa of Minnesota and David Stoklosa of Illinois; two great-nieces, Sonya Stoklosa and Anna Bullard, and two great-nephews, Michael Bullard and Karl Stoklosa.
A Funeral Mass was celebrated on Tuesday, February 5th at Holy Trinity Church in Lowell. Interment in the Holy Trinity Cemetery in Lowell. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to the DRACUT FUNERAL HOME, 2159 Lakeview Avenue, DRACUT.