Lester Kochlin, 91, passes away in Manitowoc, Wisconsin

Lester Kochlin, 91, of Blessed Giles Friary in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, passed away on Saturday morning, Nov. 8, at St. Mary’s Nursing Home in Felician Village, Manitowoc. In 69 years as a friar, Br. Lester served in pastoral and other roles and was a certified home health aide. “Working with and for the elderly has been a deep passion and love all my life,” he wrote in 2005 while at St. Maximilian Kolbe Friary in Crowley, Texas.  

A Funeral Mass will be celebrated Saturday, Nov. 15, at 11 a.m. at Blessed Giles Friary, 1820 Grand Avenue, Manitowoc, WI 54220. A luncheon at the friary will follow. Interment of Lester’s cremains in the friars' plot at Calvary Cemetery in his hometown of Jordan, Minnesota, will take place later. 

Br. Lester was born July 5, 1934, in Jordan (St. Paul), Minnesota, to Carl and Julia (née Rogers) Kochlin. Given the name Charles, he was baptized on July 22, 1934, at St. John the Baptist Church in Jordan, where he was also confirmed and attended grade school. Growing up in what he called a “Franciscan atmosphere,” Br. Lester was raised by a Secular Franciscan mother who was active in the Catholic Aid Association in Minnesota and a Lutheran father who strongly supported his Catholic upbringing. His family began a daily rosary practice after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, a custom he said influenced his becoming a Franciscan, as well as the friar priests and brothers serving at St. John the Baptist Church. 

Educated by the School Sisters of Notre Dame in the Province of Mankato, Minnesota, Br. Lester credited the School Sisters of Notre Dame and other Franciscans as joyful role models who fostered his love for the Eucharist. Discerning a call to become a Franciscan friar, Lester went to St. Joseph Franciscan Seminary in Westmont, Illinois. He was received into the Order of Friars Minor at the Franciscan novitiate in Teutopolis, Illinois, on July 4, 1955, and given the religious name Lester. He made his simple profession on July 5, 1956, in Teutopolis, Illinois. He made his solemn profession in Cleveland on June 22, 1962. 

For the next 48 years, Br. Lester served the Franciscan Order and the Church in a variety of ministries in Chicago and Quincy, Illinois; Memphis, Tennessee; Cleveland, Waverly, Nebraska; San Antonio and Crowley, Texas; and Chaska and St. Paul, Minnesota. He worked in parishes, schools, retreat houses, trained young men for Franciscan life, provided home health care and led his community. When asked to comment on his Franciscan life, Lester said: “My ministry as a Franciscan has always been a very important part of my life.” He served a year at St. Paschal Catholic Church in Westmont, Illinois, before moving to St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Memphis, Tennessee, where he served from 1963 to 1966. He next served a year at Cleveland’s Padua Franciscan High School, then worked from 1967 to 1972 in the office at St. Francis Solanus Catholic Church in Quincy, Illinois. He joined the staff at Our Lady of Good Council Retreat House in Waverly, Nebraska, before returning to office duties at Padua Franciscan High School in Cleveland from 1973 to 1984.  

He then spent five years at St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in San Antonio, Texas, as vicar (1984 to 1987 and 1988 to 1989) and was on staff at the Hispanic Formation House (1987 to 1989). He joined Casa Juan Diego Formation House in San Antonio in 1989, serving as guardian from 1990 to 1993 and as a caregiver for the Sisters’ Care Program in 1992 and 1993. After a yearlong sabbatical at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkley, California, he served for a year at Guardian Angels Catholic Church in Chaska, Minnesota, where he began his certification to become a home health aide.  

In 1995, he served at Sacred Heart Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, supervising home health care ministry and leading the home visits apostolate in Ramsey County. “To use my talents and gifts both physically and spiritually certainly has helped me to become who I am to this very day,” he wrote in 2005. He was the vicar of St. Maximilian Kolbe Friary, St. Francis Village, in Crowley, Texas, from 2002 to 2005 and 2006 to 2008, while serving in pastoral ministry from 2001 to 2010. He moved to St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in St. Louis in 2010 and retired to St. Clare’s Villa Assisted Living in Alton, Illinois. He had lived at Blessed Giles Friary in Manitowoc since 2016. 

In retirement, Lester liked to read novels, watch murder mysteries and Hallmark movies; follow his favorite baseball and football teams, and listen to music. One friar remarked how he “was enamored by his knowledge of baseball players and their statistics.” To his family, Br. Lester was always Uncle Chuck, and they talked often of the delights they received from his home visits. For them, he was “the best.” 

The friars would like to express their appreciation to Br. Lester’s caregivers at Blessed Giles Friary, as well as the staff at St. Mary’s Nursing Home in Felician Village and the Sharon S. Richardson Community Hospice in Sheboygan Falls and Manitowoc, Wisconsin. 

Br. Lester was preceded in death by his parents, Carl and Julia Kochlin; his sister, Mary Jane Kaleas; an older brother who died in infancy, Donald James Kochlin; and his nephew, Jerome ‘Jerry’ Kaleas; and two great nephews, Brian and Jarrod Kaleas. He is survived by his Franciscan brothers of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe; his niece, Karla Thompson, of Waterloo, Iowa, and her family; Gabe and Dee Thompson, and their daughter, Alexis; Jerry’s wife, Peggy Kaleas, of Denver, Iowa, and their son, Justin Kaleas.