Father Bill

 WILLIAM MARCUS WAUCHOPE - FATHER BILL

Bill was born 8 January 1927 in Solomontown, near Port Pirie.

In Pace Christi Fr Bill Wauchope 8th January 1927 – 27th September 2014

And when I awake He will set me close to him And I will see my God. Job 19:26

William Marcus Wauchope was born in Port Pirie to Andrew Gilbert (Bert) Wauchope and Annie Melinda (Peg) McBride. The eldest of seven children, he was educated at St Anthony’s Primary School Solomontown and Port Pirie High School. After studying to be a meat inspector at the Adelaide School of Mines he entered St Francis Xavier Seminary, Adelaide, in 1946 and completed his studies at St Patrick’s College Manly, New South Wales. He was ordained a priest on July 19, 1953 at St Mark’s Cathedral Port Pirie by Bishop Gallagher – the first priest to be ordained in the new Cathedral. His first appointment was as an assistant priest at Renmark where he spent three years, followed by six years assisting at Whyalla and six years at the Outback Mission Hawker. In 1967 he was appointed priest in charge at Cleve, and he was administrator of the Whyalla parish from 1972 to 1981. He served as parish priest at Port Lincoln, Renmark, Minnipa, Loxton, Woomera and Jamestown before retiring in 2005 in Port Pirie. At his funeral Mass in St Mark’s Cathedral, Bishop Greg O’Kelly SJ said there would not be one person present who would not agree that Bill was “one of the finest priests we have been privileged to know”. “We have had in Bill so much to thank God for,” he said. Bill’s priesthood spanned 61 years and his so-called “retirement” of eight years was also very active. His seven years in the Outback mission were what defined him, said Bishop O’Kelly. “Sleeping in a swag, away from the presbytery for a month or two each time, terrible roads and tracks, his combi van his travelling home, visiting every station and depot he passed – no matter the religion or lack of it – letting tyres down and pumping them up again by hand – no compressors then – to go up and down sandhill after sandhill. “He was a symbol of priestly care for the most remote, reminding the most remote how precious they are in the eyes of God and in the Church.” Bishop O’Kelly spoke of Bill’s integrity and fidelity – “to his daily Mass, the Office, walking up and down in the Cathedral telling his beads, attending morning tea with the chancery staff daily, being so faithful to his friends… never a back-biter or grumbler, a man of consistent charity.” According to Bishop O’Kelly he was the type of priest who Pope Francis spoke of at the anointing of the oils last year. Pope Francis said that the priest must carry on his shoulders the people entrusted to his care and bear their names next to their hearts. “And their care was to overlow to the edges, to the hem (of their chasuble), to all those on the outskirts, the poor and the unheeded,” he said. “In Fr Bill Wauchope, God gave us such a priest.” Bill is survived by his two sisters, Geraldine Connelly and Sr Carmel SGS, and his brother Frank. Geraldine said Bill had an amazing capacity for keeping in touch with people, not only his extended family but also his beloved parishioners from every parish in which he had served. He had a special love for his many nieces and nephews. He followed their careers, travels and their families with interest and concern. They, in turn, had great affection and respect for him. “It is lovely to think of Bill re-united with Mum and Dad, and with Brian, Peter and John (his brothers),” she said.

Article courtesy of November Southern Cross - This article was published in the Journal of the Diocese of Pt Pirie December 2014