April 1, 1920 – December 26, 2017
The Rev. Carl Edward Wilke, Sr., who served as an Episcopal priest for more than 50 years, died Dec. 26 at age 97 at his home in Aliso Viejo, California. A funeral mass was celebrated by Rt. Rev. John Taylor and assisted by Rev. Rick Byrum and Rev. Dawn Vukich at Faith Episcopal Church in Laguna Niguel on Dec. 30.
Wilke’s wife, Frances Stimpson Wilke, to whom he was married in 1947, died in 1988. They are survived by their children Joan Wilke Cavanagh of Granite Bay, California; Carl Edward Wilke, Jr. of Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Anne Mary Wilke of San Jose, California; and Peter Killian Wilke of Laguna Niguel, California; as well as four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Carl Wilke earned a business administration degree from Marquette University in 1941; a Master of Divinity from the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York City in 1944; and an STM degree from Nashotah House Theological Seminary in 1956. He was ordained in Milwaukee in 1944 and served parishes in Texas, Wisconsin and Missouri before retiring in 1985. In retirement he supplied parishes in Arkansas and Missouri until 1997. He lived in Aliso Viejo, California since 2004.
In Texas Wilke was rector of Calvary Episcopal Church (Richmond), then rector at St. Mathew’s Church (Bellaire, a suburb of Houston). In Wisconsin he was the assistant at Trinity Episcopal (Wauwatosa) in 1953, and rector at All Saints (Appleton) in 1957. In 1970 he moved to Christ Church (Springfield, Missouri), from where he retired in 1985. He worked as a supply priest at St. Andrew’s Church (Mountain Home, Arkansas) in 1986 and at St. John’s Church (Neosho, Missouri) in 1987. He was part-time associate at St. John’s Church, Springfield, Missouri, from 1990 to 1997.