Obituary: Reverend William J. Killeen, 88, of Wallingford

WALLINGFORD, CT - (From Wallingford Funeral Home) The Reverend William J. Killeen, age 88, died peacefully on Wednesday, July 14, 2021, at The Landing, 201 Clintonville Rd, North Haven, CT from medical complications, the result of his long battle with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and in recent years, from chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

Father Killeen was born on May 14, 1933 in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of the late William and Anna Sullivan Killeen.

He received his early education at St. John the Baptist School in New Haven and was a member of the first graduating class of Notre Dame High School in West Haven in 1950.

He then attended Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut; St. Thomas Seminary, Bloomfield, Connecticut; and St. Mary’s Seminary and University of Baltimore, Maryland, from which he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and his Licentiate in Sacred Theology.

Father Killeen was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Hartford on May 7, 1959 by the late Auxiliary Bishop John F. Hackett at St. Lawrence O’Toole Church in Hartford, which was serving at the time as the Pro-Cathedral, since the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford had been destroyed in a fire.

Following ordination, Father Killeen was appointed parochial vicar to St. Mary’s Church in Union City, Connecticut; then in 1963, to St. Mary’s, Newington; 1966, to St. Joseph, Meriden; 1969, St. Christopher, East Hartford; 1970, St. Paul, West Haven; 1972, St. Bridget, Manchester; 1978, Holy Rosary, Ansonia; 1979, St. Joseph, Bristol; 1980, Immaculate Conception, Waterbury; 1984, St. George, Guilford; and in 1987, St. Mary, Milford.

In 1961 Father Killeen was appointed Deanery Director of Cana for the Waterbury Deanery, and in 1990 was appointed co-pastor and moderator of St. Jude, Derby, later becoming Pastor until his retirement in January of 2000. Since retiring in 2000, he has helped out at Most Holy Trinity, Wallingford, where he often celebrated the daily Mass, and St. Agnes, Milford, where he celebrated Sunday Masses.

Father Killeen was a fourth degree Brother Knight in the Knights of Columbus, St. Rita Council #14664. He was also a member of the National Association of Priests’ Pilots, a national group of several hundred priests who fly as a hobby. He had earned, single, multi-engine and instrument ratings from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Father Killeen, with the approval of Archbishop Leonard Blair, Archbishop of Hartford, was appointed Chaplain by the military to the Civil Air Patrol at Oxford-Waterbury Airport with the rank of Captain. The Civil Air Patrol is an arm of the United States Air Force.

Survivors include his friends Anne and Michael Degregorio, Jerry Farrell, Jr., and Debbie Price, who all assisted him in his later years.

The wake for Father Killeen will be from 9:30a.m. to 11a.m. on Thursday, July 22nd at Holy Trinity Church, 84 North Colony St., Wallingford, followed by a Concelebrated Mass of Christian Burial at Holy Trinity Church at 11a.m. with His Excellency, The Most Reverend Juan Miguel Betancourt, SEMV, Auxiliary Bishop of Hartford, as the main celebrant.

A livestream of the mass will be available at www.mhtwallingford.org).

Interment will follow in the family plot at St. Lawrence Cemetery, West Haven.

At 2pm, following interment, friends are invited to the Libero Pensiero Society, 91 Dudley Avenue, Wallingford, for lunch.

Contributions in honor of Father Killeen can be sent to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York City, NY 10001.

Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Wallingford Funeral Home.