Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2009 / Fr. Immel remembered as kind, hospitable
Fr. Immel remembered as kind, hospitable
by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published June 26, 2009
Detroit - Fr. A. William Immel is remembered as a kind person who kept pretty much to himself, especially in later years.
"He was a very kind and hospitable guy, but pretty much a withdrawn and private person, almost a recluse," said Frank Begue, a seminary classmate and former priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit who kept in contact with Fr. Immel.
Fr. Immel mostly divided his time between his apartment in Harbor Beach and a cottage on Lake Huron in recent years, "but his hospitality was always wonderful whenever anybody came up to visit," Begue said.
Even into his 80s, Fr. Immel feeling close to nature at his cottage, Begue said. He recalled an earlier time when that love of nature would take the form of canoe trips or horseback excursions they would go on in the Colorado mountains.
Those thoughts were echoed by his sister-in-law, Irene Immel, wife of Fr. Immel's older brother, Frank.
"He loved the outdoors and being up north. He loved Lake Huron, and was very, very happy up there," she said.
Fr. Immel died June 16, aged 82, at a Harbor Beach nursing home after a recent bout of illness that had involved hospitalization in Harbor Beach and Port Huron.
Another older brother, Fr. A. Joseph Immel of the Kalamazoo Diocese, and a sister preceded him in death.
August William Immel was born July 3, 1926, in Detroit to August and Antoinette (Apel) Immel. He attended Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit and St. John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth Township. Ordained June 6, 1953, he celebrated his first Mass at St. Alphonsus Church, Dearborn.
Fr. Immel served as an assistant pastor at St. Michael Parish, Pontiac (1953-58); St. Sebastian Parish, Dearborn (1958-63); St. Clement Parish, Center Line (1963-68); St. Raymond Parish, Detroit (1968-69); and Guardian Angels, Detroit (1969-70).
He was co-pastor of St. David of Wales Parish, Detroit (1970-71); then pastor of St. Luke Parish, Detroit (1971-82); and pastor of St. Richard Parish, Westland (1982-87).
Fr. Immel was pastor of St. Mary Burnside in Burnside Township and Sacred Heart Mission in Brown City from 1988 until his release for a medical leave of absence in September 1993. He attained senior priest status June 30, 1996.
Fr. Immel is survived by a brother, Frank, and nieces and nephews.
A funeral Mass was celebrated last Saturday, June 20, by Archbishop Allen Vigneron at St. Mary Burnside Church. Burial was in the parish cemetery.
Memorials to St. Mary Burnside Parish, P.O. Box 268, North Branch 48461-8994.
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