Father Chester Kicia

KICIA Father Chester Kicia O.F.M., Conv., age 93, of Trumbull, entered the presence of the Lord on Wednesday, July 23, 2003. Father Chester Kicia was born in Bridgeport on January 18, 1910, to Joseph Kicia and Eva Pekala. He attended St. Michael the Archangel School in Bridgeport and graduated in 1926. From 1926 to 1927, Chester attended Warren Harding High School in Bridgeport. Later, he transferred to St. Francis High School in Athols Springs, N.Y. He studied for the Holy Priesthood for several years and was ordained on June 6, 1936. In 1936, Chester said his first Mass at St. Michael the Archangel Church, where he attended school and church as a child. He served as associate pastor at St. Michael’s from 1936 to 1945. In 1964 Fr. Chester was transferred to St. Anthony of Padua Church in Fairfield. He served as the 5th pastor of St. Anthony’s until 1973. From 1973 to 1979, he was pastor at Sacred Heart of Jesus in Danbury. In August of 1979, Fr. Chester was made pastor of St. Hedwig Church in Bedford, Mass. Fr. Chester had resided at St. Joseph’s Manor for the past several years. Survivors include two nephews and two nieces, Ronald and Dolores Szamatulski, and Stanley and his wife, Lorraine Szamatulski, all of Trumbull, and Barbara Galvin and her husband, Jerome, of Springville, Pa.; and several grandnieces and grandnephews. Friends are invited to attend a Mass of Christian Burial on Monday, July 28, 2003, at 11 a.m. in St. Michael the Archangel Church. Interment in St. Michael’s Cemetery, Stratford. Fr. Chester will lie in state on Sunday from 6 to 8 p.m. in St. Michael’s Church, 310 Pulaski Street, Bridgeport. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Franciscan Education Fund, 12300 Folly Quarter, Ellicott City, MD 21042. The Commerce Hill-Radozycki Funeral Home, 4798 Main Street, Bridgeport (on the Trumbull line), is in charge of arrangements.