Augusta Chronicle, Georgia
8 January 1940
(Viewed online at GenealogyBank.)
FATHER M'CREARY DIES SUDDENLY
Last Rites for Widely Known Priest to Be Held This Morning
Funeral services for the Reverend John McCreary, S. J., who died after a sudden heart attack Sunday morning will be held at the Sacred Heart church this morning at 11 o'clock. The Reverend J. E. O'Donohoe, S. J., will be celebrant of the requiem mass. Interment will be in the cemetery of Spring Hill College, Mobile, Ala.
Father McCreary, a member of the Jesuit Mission Band of the New Orleans Province, for the past 10 years, was well known throughout the South, where he had conducted missions and retreats in practically every city. For some time Father McCreary has made the Sacred Heart church in Augusta his headquarters.
Born in Macon, Ga., February 3, 1866, he was the son of the late John McCreary and Julia Welch McCreary. He is survived by a sister, Sister M. Berchmans, of Mt. De Sales Academy, Macon, and a brother, William McCreary, also of Macon.
Father McCreary was a member of the Society of Jesus for 55 years, entering the order when he had completed his preparatory education at Pio Nona College in Macon. He served as vice-president of the Jesuit high school in Shreveport, La., and as president of a college conducted by the Jesuits in New Orleans, where a million dollar school was constructed under his supervision.
He was ordained by Cardinal Gibbons on June 29, 1900, and sang his first mass the following day.
In a religious order distinguished for great educators and outstanding pulpit orators, Father McCreary was considered to be one of the most able teachers and most eloquent preachers.
His body will lie in state in the Sacred Heart church this morning until after the services.
