1916 – 1980 (May 23)
Joseph Aloysius Graham was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, on September 12, 1916 to Joseph A. Graham and Mary McKeon. He was baptized on September 24, 1916, at Our Mother of Good Counsel Church, Bryn Mawr, and was confirmed in 1925 at Saint Thomas of Villanova Chapel, Rosemont, PA. Following elementary education at Saint Thomas of Villanova Parochial School and one year at West Catholic High School, Joseph entered the House of Postulants at Staten Island, New York in 1931. He was received into the novitiate on September 9, 1935, and professed simple vows on September 10, 1936 and solemn vows on September 10, 1939. He studied at Villanova College and Augustinian College and was ordained to the priesthood on May 29, 1943.
After ordination Father Graham was assigned to the Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel where he served in Chicago at Saint Rita High School from 1944 to 1952 and at Mendel High School from 1951 to 1956. In 1956 he became an assistant at Saint Clare Parish in Grosse Pointe Park, MI. From 1957 to 1960 he engaged in scriptural studies at Catholic University in Washington, DC and in Rome. After returning to the United States, he taught at Saint Thomas High School in Rockford for a year and then was assigned to teach at Augustinian Academy in Saint Louis from 1961 to 1965. In 1965 Father Graham became Provincial Secretary and resided at Tolentine College in Olympia Field, IL from 1965 to 1968, and at the Provincialate in Evanston from 1968 to 1971. In 1971 he was assigned to Austin Catholic High School in Detroit. From 1973 to 1977 he served as Assistant and prior at Saint Anthony’s Parish in Baton Rouge, LA.
In 1977 Father Graham volunteered for the Peruvian missions and was stationed in Lima and Chulucanas. He died suddenly on May 23, 1980 in Lima. He is buried in Chulucanas, Peru.
Father Graham is remembered for his loyalty, good humor and devotion to the Order.
