Father Bernard (Ben) Diekhoff, C.PP.S., of the Kansas City Province of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood died on Saturday, January 7, 2017, at St. Charles Center in Carthagena, OH. He was 95 years old.

Father Ben was born on March 11, 1921 in Indianapolis, IN to Louis J. and Etta (Sheets) Diekhoff. He entered Brunnerdale Seminary in Canton, OH in September, 1935 and made Temporary Incorporation on December 8, 1939 at St. Joseph College in Rensselaer, IN. He was Definitively Incorporated as a Missionary of the Precious Blood on December 3, 1942 at St. Charles Seminary in Carthagena, OH, and Ordained to the Priesthood at St. Charles on May 15, 1947.

He served in a number of parishes throughout his life.  In his first assignment as a priest as parochial vicar at St. Joseph Parish in Hamilton, OH, Father Ben began a ministry that would mark most of his almost seventy years of priesthood. “I walked the sidewalks to visit parishioners,” he said in an interview for The New Wine Press in 2007 when he celebrated his 60th anniversary of ordination. Following that assignment, he served in several other parishes and as chaplain for the Adorers of the Blood of Christ in Wichita, Kansas. 

He retired to St. Charles Center in Carthagena, OH in the summer of 2002. As his health allowed, he continued to assist with pastoral ministries when needed and to play golf. But for the past few years, Father Ben lived in the infirmary at Saint Charles where his gentle disposition, his patience and his prayerfulness were an inspiration to family, nursing staff, and members of the community.

Father Diekhoff is survived by his brother Norbert and sister-in-law Rosemary of Beech Grove, IN, and his sister, Rita Ferguson of Indianapolis, nieces and nephews.  The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 2:00 PM on Thursday, January 12, 2017 at St. Charles Center, with Rev. Joseph Nassal, C.PP.S., provincial director, presiding. Burial will follow at St. Charles Cemetery.