Fr. Thomas J. Beischel, C.PP.S., 92, died at 4:30 a.m. on Monday, March 4 in the infirmary at St. Charles Center, Carthagena, Ohio, where he made his home.

He was born May 31, 1926 in Cincinnati.

He served in the U.S. Army as a technical sergeant in World War II. After his military service, he entered the Society in 1949 at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind., and was ordained on June 1, 1958.

For many years Fr. Beischel was a hospital chaplain and was also active in parish ministry.

From 1961-1966 he was the treasurer of Brunnerdale, the Community’s former high school seminary in Canton, Ohio.

Fr. Beischel served for many years as a hospital chaplain at urban hospitals in Ohio. In 2008, he retired to St. Charles Center, where he volunteered enthusiastically to help at local parishes for many years.

Fr. Beischel ministered to thousands of people in his years as a chaplain, many of whom he saw only once. His sincere smile and staunch faith gave them something to lean on when they were sick and scared. “Hundreds of times the beeper woke me up in the middle of the night, sometimes twice in a night,” he said. “The priesthood always had something to offer to the people who were calling for me: they wanted to be anointed, or to receive communion, or have me hear their confession, or just to be there with them.”

A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 7 at St. Charles Center, with Fr. Jeffrey Kirch, C.PP.S., presiding and Fr. Ken Schroeder, C.PP.S., as homilist. Burial will follow in the Community cemetery.