Rev. Terence J. Rice, CSV, died Oct. 5, 1958 at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, IL. He was 78 and the last surviving member of his family.
Fr. Rice was born Oct. 28, 1879 on a farm in Lockport, IL. At the age of 15, he entered the Clerics of St. Viator Novitiate in 1895 in Bourbonnais and finished his high school studies in 1897. He professed his first vows on Jul. 2, 1898 and his final vows on Jul. 4, 1908.
His first assignment was teaching elementary school at the Cathedral School for Boys on Chicago’s Near North side, where he remained until 1903.
He then studied at St. Viator College in Bourbonnais and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1905, while teaching in the local grade school. He went on to earn a Master’s of Arts degree in 1907.
Fr. Rice also filled the difficult role as the prefect of discipline for St. Viator’s College from 1906-1917.
Upon completing his theological studies, Fr. Rice was ordained to the priesthood on Jun. 1, 1912 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.
In 1917, Fr. Rice was appointed vice-president of the college, before ultimately serving as its president from 1922-1927. Both the academy and college prospered under his wise and prudent guidance.
Fr. Rice was called to serve as the chaplain at Kankakee and Manteno State Hospitals for the mentally ill. He retained both positions from 1927 until 1942, and was devoted to the patients and their relatives.
In 1942, Manteno State Hospital alone had a Catholic population of several thousand and another full-time priest was assigned there. Fr. Rice remained at his post at the Kankakee State Hospital until 1951, when he became ill and retired.
He continued to do light work with members of St. Patrick Parish in Kankakee and he became involved with the nursing school at St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee. In 1954, he moved to the Viatorian residence on Sheridan Road in Chicago, but was often ill.
In Oct. of 1957, he broke his hip, which led to a long stay at St. Francis Hospital, where he eventually died.
The Rev. John F. Brown, CSV, provincial of the Viatorians, offered the solemn requiem Mass on Oct. 9 at St. Viator Church in Chicago, and the Rev. Andrew A. Bialas, CSV, preached the sermon.
Fr. Rice was laid to rest in the Viatorian plot at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, IL.
Taken from obituary in the 1959 Annuaire, a publication of the Viatorian Genral Direction and a news clipping dated Oct. 5, 1958, source unknown.