SPRINGFIELD, ILL.—Father Gary Dale Dilley, a retired priest of the Diocese of Charleston, S.C., died on Jan. 12. He was 75.
The Mass of Christian Burial was held at Sacred Heart/St. Katharine Drexel Church in Springfield. Burial was at Camp Butler National Cemetery with military honors.
He was born Aug. 11, 1940, to Dale R. and Flora H. Balzraina Dilley. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Briar Cliff College in Sioux City, Iowa, and a master’s from St. Louis University in St. Louis, Mo. He was a graduate of St. Paul Seminary in Washington, D.C., and was ordained Sept. 1, 1972, at St. John the Baptist in Silver Spring, Md. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran and served as a chaplain.
In 1988, Father Dilley served as pastor at St. Andrew Church in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Prior to that, he was a pastor at St. Mary Church in Fort Worth, Texas, a campus minister at Mercer University and Wesleyan College in Georgia, an associate pastor at St. Joseph Church in Macon, Ga., and pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Oshkosh, Wis.
He is survived by two brothers, Robert and James Dilley, of Springfield, plus nieces and nephews.
Messages of condolence may be sent to Robert Dilley, 2125 N. 24th St. Springfield, IL 62702. Memorials may be made to the Diocese of Charleston Seminarian Fund, 901 Orange Grove Road, Charleston, SC, 29407.
