When people need help, they oftentimes call a firefighter. When firefighters need help dealing with the worst of the outcomes they face, Reverend George Jerome Grafsky was there to help.
Grafsky served as the chaplain for firefighters in New Prague for 39 years and 33 years in Montgomery. Last Saturday morning, April 11, Grafsky passed away at age 81, ending his journey with cancer. After an overnight vigil Sunday into Monday morning, April 19-20, with firefighters from New Prague and Montgomery standing watch, his funeral was held Monday, April 20, at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Montgomery to a packed crowd of over 500 people.
The church balcony was full with a choir with both piano and organ being used. The main level was standing room only in the back with some choosing to watch and listen from the church’s basement.
Fire departments from Le Center, New Prague, Pine City, St. Paul, and Montgomery; ambulance services from Le Center and Montgomery; Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Office (LSCSO) and Montgomery Police Department; and more all honored their long-time chaplain in dress attire at the funeral.
Catholic Archbishop of the St. Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese Bernard Hebda was the celebrant of the Mass, along with Rev. Tom Niehaus, Rev. Timothy Sandquist, and about 20 other priests of the archdiocese.
The Mass followed ceremonial rights by local honor guards. A retired Montgomery Fire Department (MFD) truck carried his casket to Calvary Cemetery in Montgomery with a convoy of other emergency vehicles and family for the interment, less than a mile from the fire station where he often caught the first or second truck out to the scene of a house fire or a vehicle crash. MFD members acted as his pallbearers.
MFD Chief Tony Kadrlik remembers the first time Grafsky showed up for a fire call. Kadrlik’s father, Dennis, was the chief and named Grafsky as the department’s chaplain back in 1993. True to his calling, Grafsky was looking for a way to help people. He arrived in Montgomery in 1990 after serving at St. Patrick in Cedar Lake Township and St. Catherine in Spring Lake Township from 1984-1990. In 1987, Grafsky began serving as the New Prague Fire Department chaplain.
“He just knew which calls he needed to be at,” said New Prague Fire Chief Steve Rynda...
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Archbishop Bernard Hebda sprinkles holy water over the casket before the pall is laid at Rev. George Grafsky’s funeral.
Many of the first responders who Rev. George Grafsky was chaplain for showed up with emergency vehicles for the procession to the grave, leading the way was Montgomery Fire Department carrying him to his final resting place.