Rev. James Patrick Toolan, CSV, died Sunday evening Oct. 8, 1989 at St. Mary’s Hospital, Kankakee, Illinois. Fr. Toolan, a priest for 54 years, was 85 years old. Born in Belfast, Ireland, Fr. Toolan immigrated to the United States at the age of 17. A graduate of St. Viator College in Bourbonnais, he worked for two years as installation service representative for a Cicero-based electric company.
He professed his first vows in the Clerics of St. Viator in 1932 and was ordained to the priesthood Aug. 15, 1935 in Springfield. He had finished his theological studies at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.
Fr. Toolan served as provincial treasurer for the Viatorians and as chaplain at the Chicago Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium. From 1959 until 1968 he was pastor of St. Mary Parish in Beaverville, Illinois. In 1968 he returned to St. Patrick Church in Kankakee, Illinois where he had previously served from 1951 until 1954. Fr. Toolan was associate pastor at St. Patrick Parish for more than 20 years. In 1975 Fr. Toolan initiated a scholarship fund to help the needy with tuition costs at St. Patrick and Teresa Grade School. He was a member of the Joliet diocesan Senate of Priests.
He was survived by two brothers, Father John Toolan, also a Cleric of St. Viator at the province center in Arlington Heights, and Murty Toolan, an attorney in Belfast, Ireland, as well as eight nieces and’ nephews and four grandnieces and grandnephews. He was preceded in death by his sister Maureen Toolan Savage.
Visitation was held Tuesday Oct. 10, 1989 at St. Patrick Church in Kankakee, Illinois from 2 to 8 pm with a wake service at 7:30 pm. The funeral service was held Wednesday Oct. 11, 1989 at 11 am at St. Patrick Church. Fr. Toolan was buried in Maternity Cemetery, Bourbonnais, Illinois.
Taken from obituary, New Catholic Explorer, October 27, 1989 and other press releases.