Rev. John J. Tobin, CSV, who devoted his life to teaching high school students, died July 26, 1966, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Springfield, IL, following surgery. He was 68.
At the time of his death, Fr. Tobin served as assistant principal at Bishop Griffin High School in Springfield where he had taught since the establishment of the school in 1959. Prior to that, Fr. Tobin had taught at Cathedral Boys’ High School from 1932 to 1938 and he also served as assistant pastor at St. Joseph Church in Springfield during that time.
He returned to Cathedral Boys’ in 1951, until it became Bishop Griffin High School in 1959.
Fr. Tobin was born April 18, 1898 in South Dakota, and he entered the Clerics of St. Viator in 1924. He was educated at St. Viator College in Bourbonnais, IL; Catholic University of America in Washington DC; and DePaul University in Chicago where he earned a master’s degree in education.
On June 12, 1932, Fr. Tobin was ordained a priest, and he spent most of his priestly life in the high school classroom. He taught at St. Philip’s Basilica High School in Chicago from 1938 to 1942, and again from 1943 until 1951. He also served as superior of the Viatorian faculty at St. Philip’s during his second assignment there.
For one year, from 1942-1943, Fr. Tobin returned to his native South Dakota, to teach at St. Mary’s High School in Salem.
Fr. Tobin grew up in a family of 13 children. At the time of his passing, he was survived by six brothers and two sisters, from South Dakota, California and Florida.
A concelebrated funeral Mass was held July 29, at St. Joseph Church in Springfield, where the Rev. John W. Stafford, CSV, Viatorian provincial, was the principal celebrant. Other celebrants included Fr. Tobin’s colleagues on the Griffin High School faculty. The Rev. Edward Gorman, CSV, pastor of St. Joseph’s, delivered the homily.
Burial took place in the Viatorian plot at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, IL, where services were conducted by the Rev. Edward Heitjan, CSV, principal of Griffin High School.
Taken from a Viatorian Community press release, date unknown