Aurora Remembers Father David Engbarth For Love, Service To City

AURORA, IL —After faithfully serving Aurora’s East Side for more than 45 years, Father David Engbarth was remembered this week by city and community faith leaders, who called the longtime Catholic priest an icon for his willingness to get his hands dirty in protecting area residents.

Engbarth died at the age of 75 the day before Thanksgiving. Engbarth was transferred to St. Nicholas Church in Aurora in 1993, where he became pastor in 1996, and worked with other faith leaders in addressing violence in the city, Mayor Richard Irvin said this week in honoring Father David’s commitment to working in his community.

Irvin recalled working as a young attorney in some of Aurora’s “terrible neighborhoods” where gang and drug activity and shootings were prevalent.

“Father Dave would be out there as one of the first folks to make sure we were protecting our communities,” Irwin said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. “He was out, front and center, getting his hands dirty and making sure that he took care of his people and his flocks.”

Irwin has set aside Aug. 24 — Engbarth’s birthday — as Father David Engbarth Day, which recognizes the longtime faith leader as an “Aurora icon” and a “powerful presence in Aurora” since 1979, where he first served as the vicar at Holy Angels Church before serving St. Nicholas and Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Good Counsel before retiring in 2014.

Father David co-founded the Coalition for Prayer and Reconciliation with Rev. Dan Haas and spent the past decade living in Florida, the mayor said. The mayor said Father David was “like a family member” to generations of Aurora residents.

Other faith leaders said that Father David “did not hide his love” which was evidenced in several meaningful ways in his service to the city.

“I think it’s a more peaceful city because of him,” Father Jerome Leake of Our Lady of Good Counsel said at Tuesday’s council meeting. “More people have peace in their hearts because of how he ministered to them.”

Ald. Emmanuel Llmas (1st Ward) agreed, calling Father David an icon in the community. Llmas said he first met Engbarth as a student at Archbishop Romero Grade School, where Father David would often have lunch with the students.

He said that his community and love for the community continued as long as he served the city’s neighborhoods.

“He warmed up your heart,” Llmas said.