Br. Earl Benz, OFM, 95, passes away in Manitowoc, Wisconsin

Br. Earl (Robert) Benz, OFM, 95, peacefully passed away on June 26, 2025, at Blessed Giles Friary in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. He spent most of his 66 years as a Franciscan friar caring for his brothers and working as a carpenter. 

A memorial service for Br. Earl will be held in the chapel of Blessed Giles Friary, 1820 Grand Avenue, Manitowoc, WI 54220 at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, July 2. His cremains will be taken to Quincy, Illinois, for a final Funeral Mass at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 5, at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, 2223 St. Anthony Road, Quincy, IL 62305, followed by the interment of his cremains in the Frank H. Benz plot in the parish cemetery. 

Br. Earl was born to Francis and Mary (née Wolf) Benz on Nov. 14, 1929, in Quincy, Illinois, and received the sacraments at Quincy’s St. Anthony of Padua Church, where he met the friars. He became a tertiary brother on May 17, 1955, in Westmont, Illinois, and was received into the Order of Friars Minor on June 21, 1958, at the novitiate in Teutopolis, Illinois, professing first vows on June 22, 1959.  

He lived at Our Lady of the Angels Friary in Cleveland, Ohio, for one year before moving to St. Paschal’s Brothers School in Oak Brook, Illinois, where he worked as a carpenter, creating the staircase in the entry hall, the doors and much of the wooden furniture. Br. Earl professed solemn vows on June 22, 1962, in Cleveland, Ohio, and continued serving at St. Paschal’s in Oak Brook until 1992. During that time, he was also the friary’s vicar (1978 to 1981 and 1987) and guardian (1981 to 1986, 1988 to 1992), providing fraternal care to the brothers.  

In 1992, he became administrator of St. Francis Village, a faith-based retirement community in Crowley, Texas, and vicar of the friary. He worked there for five years before returning to Illinois in 1997 to work in maintenance at St. Gratian Friary in Countryside. 

Two years later, he moved to Our Lady of Angels Friary in Sherman, Illinois, where he was vicar and assistant caretaker of the community of retired friars and helped shepherd them through their move to Springfield, Illinois, in 2001. After many years of service to the retired friars, Br. Earl retired himself in 2018, settling at Blessed Giles Friary in Manitowoc, where he lived until his death. 

Br. Earl is survived by a nephew, Charles Benz, his wife, Christi, and their four children,  Samantha, Jessica (Taylor) Brown, Max and Alexandra; a niece, Geri Ann Black, and her two sons, Kris and Zach (Ally) Weaver and her husband, Trenton; two great great nephews, Wyatt and Eli Brown, as well as other relatives and his brother friars of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe.