Meany, Neill R.

Jesuit Father Neill R. Meany died on March 4, 2013, at the Jesuit infirmary in Spokane, Wash. He was a priest, teacher, artist, administrator and friend to many.

Fr. Meany was born on July 27, 1923, in Milbank, S.D., to Richard and Corinne (Plouf) Meany. He was the oldest of five children. He graduated from Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma, Wash., in 1941 and entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Sheridan, Ore., that summer.

After completing his first set of studies in 1948, Fr. Meany returned to Bellarmine Prep and taught for three years. He attended Alma College in California for theology studies in 1951 and was ordained a priest on June 19, 1954, in Spokane, Wash.

Fr. Meany next taught at Marquette High School in Yakima, Wash., and at Gonzaga Prep in Spokane. He held administrative duties at the Jesuit offices in Portland, Ore., and became involved in parish life in multiple cities. He spent a year in Mexico to learn Spanish to meet the spiritual and pastoral needs of the Hispanic members of his parishes. His years spent in parish life were some of his happiest. Worthy of note were the stained glass windows he designed for the new St. Joseph Church in Yakima.

Fr. Meany was preceded in death by two sisters, Catherine Bichsel and Joan Sullivan. He is survived by his sister Rosalie Leba, of Minneapolis and his brother Bill, of Kirkland, Wash.