When Jim Kelly first learned about the Society of the Divine Word, he was just an impressionable young boy. He went to Techny for a retreat and heard stories about Divine Word Missionaries who were serving around the world.
“They had priests from the missions there and they had titles. So, there was the ‘Snake Priest’ who served in Africa and he captured snakes and milked them for their venom to make the antivenom for shots. And then there was the ‘Pilot Priest’ from Papua New Guinea who flew to people to visit them in the outposts. As a young person in grammar school, it seemed like it was kind of like an exciting life,” Jim said.
Bishop Leo Arkfeld, SVD, was known as "The Flying Bishop." He served over 50 years in Papua New Guinea.
The Flying Bishop - The Chicago Tribune August 25, 1999
After these informational sessions, the children in attendance jumped at the chance to be active and have fun.
“I remember playing dodgeball and back then we used volleyballs, so you’d come home with imprints of volleyballs on your back,” he said with a chuckle.
Jim went on to attend a Catholic high school in Chicago. One day during his junior year, he came home to find three seminarians at his house. They were sitting in the living room with his mom and they were there doing vocation work. Jim ended up enrolling at Divine Word College in Epworth and started taking classes in 1971.
He was a very involved student. Jim did photography for the college and helped with the yearbooks. He got certified in scuba diving and taught at the college swimming pool.
When he was a junior at DWC, Jim remembers Fr. Pat Barder, SVD, was the college's athletic director. Back then, they played other small schools, like one from Fennimore, Wisconsin. For a period of time, Jim actually coached. His efforts even made the front cover of the Des Moines Register!
