Rev. Joseph E. McDermott

My family(Silvius and Joyce Neumann) lived in Bankston and we knew him from when he was the priest there. I remember as a kid he came to our house and he gave me a blessing because I wasn't feeling good.
Father Joe was a wonderful priest and friend!

Father Joe was an inspirational figure to me. His life and work made the world a better place.

Fr Joe taught me how to "listen." He said one should try identifying the birds by their sound and later identify their characteristics. But sound was very important and I learned the sounds of many birds. I also watched him "listen" to others. To Fr Joe, everyone was special and important. He never let anyone pass him in the hall or in the cafeteria or in a restaurant without greeting them. And he knew everyone. Every person, bird, animal, hawk......was the face of God and he treated...

Fr Joe was a touchstone of pure love in my life growing up and into my adulthood.

I have a clear memory, as a young girl (8 or 10 years old) of him coming home from New Guinea, to the US and visiting family in Chicago; one of his rare visits allowed every so many years.

He would come to Chicago from his home in Iowa and plans would be made for his family reunion visit including special arrangements for him to say a private Mass for our extended McDermott family in...

This is a message from Fr. Joe's cousin Jomo Macdermott:
My dad, Michael Urban McDermott, took the family to Techny many times from Chicago's South Side. It was always a fun journey for a boy 8 yrs old. We went to Fr. Joe's ordination and helped fill the church. Ten or so years later I travelled across the wide Pacific to Madang, PNG, got on a scale, then into a tiny airplane and flew into the cloud forest where Fr. Joe's mission station sat: Ambullua.
That world, and Fr. Joe, now...

Fr. Joe was always so gracious and kind. I remember my parents attending his Ordination.
Our condolences to his family and friends.

The Lattner and Healy family

May God bless you and your family in this time of sorrow.

I met Father Joe when I was a little girl. (1950s). He would come to visit my Great Aunt Susie Little. He would come back from New Guinea and share his stories with her.

My parents and I attended his ordination at Teckney. We were all so very proud as when the Daly’s and McDermott’s were neighbors Fr. Joe spent many days with my Mother And Dad and grew up like the son they never had. Katie(Catherine) Olberding