DEACON RICHARD T. BLAKE

Deacon Richard T. Blake, 91, passed away June 29, 2025 in Vero Beach, Florida. Born in St Albans, Queens, NY in 1933, Richard graduated with a degree in Chemistry in 1955 from St. Bonaventure University, and worked for Union Carbide for several years. While assigned to their Cleveland office, he met and dated his future spouse Constance Corrigan of Cleveland, but he would first leave to pursue a calling to join the Franciscan Friars in 1960. He spent three years at their seminary at Holy Name College in Washington DC, where he had taken the name Father Fidelis Blake in honor of relation Father Fidelis O'Rourke, before requesting release from his temporary vows to return to lay life. Richard and Constance, better known to family and friends as Dick and Conny, married in 1965, and settled in New York, where they had 5 children. He worked for over 30 years in water treatment for commercial buildings, mainly for the Metro Group in Long Island City. Dick was ordained to the Permanent Deaconate in 1983, and served for 24 years in that role at the parish of Saint Aidan's Catholic Church in Williston Park, NY. After retiring to Florida in 2001, Dick Blake began service as a Deacon at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Vero Beach. At Holy Cross he focused much of his ministry on ministering to the sick and disabled, beginning a parish program for nursing home eucharistic ministers and pastoral visitors in 2001, and later a program for home visitors to bring support elderly and disabled parishioners in their homes. He also served for many years as one of the volunteer chaplains at Indian River Community Hospital. Deacon Blake taught everyone around him to be smart, gentle, assertive, and forgiving in life, and practiced what he preached. He will be remembered as a loving son, husband, father, brother, uncle, godfather, grandfather, and as a minister dedicated to the service of the poor, suffering, forgotten, and marginalized. He is survived by five children, seven grandchildren, one brother, and over fifty nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his wife Conny, three brothers, one sister, and a grandson. In the charitable spirit of Deacon Blake, please consider making a donation to your favorite charity in his honor. The service will be live streamed at: https://www.youtube.com/live/qWQzjc0BOwE?si=oQzKpDagPCQKmSBk