OBITUARY NOTICE:
Brother John Baptist Hildreth, SA – Franciscan Friar of the Atonement
(June 8, 1939 – July 2, 2019)
(July 3, 2019 – Graymoor, Garrison, NY). Brother John Baptist (Birth name: Burton S.) Hildreth, SA a Franciscan Friar of the Atonement, passed from this life on July 2, 2019, at Cabrini of Westchester Nursing Home in Dobbs Ferry, NY. A wake service was held Thursday, July 11, 2019, at 7 p.m. at the St. Anthony Chapel of the St. Paul Friary at Graymoor in Garrison, NY. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Friday, July 12, 2019, at 11:00 a.m. in the St. Anthony of Padua Chapel (St. Paul’s Friary Chapel) with interment in the Friars’ cemetery immediately after Mass.
Br. Hildreth was born on June 8, 1939 in New Haven, CT. He attended local schools and graduated from James Hillhouse High School, New Haven, CT in 1957. Br. Hildreth entered the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement in 1957 and received the habit in 1958. He professed first vows in 1960 and made his final vows in 1965.
Br. Hildreth worked in the Culinary Departments of St. Paul Friary at Graymoor and Our Lady of the Atonement Novitiate in Cumberland, RI from 1960 to 1978. After serving briefly as Pilgrimage Coordinator at Graymoor, he joined the staff of Catholic Central Library in London from 1983 to 1988.
Upon his return to Graymoor in 1988, Br. Hildreth worked in the Retreat Department and was appointed Vocation Director. He worked as an assistant at Our Lady of the Rosary parish in Yonkers, NY from 1997 to 2003 before his assignment to Paul Wattson Friary in Toronto, ON. He remained in Toronto until 2010.
Br. John Baptist retired from active ministry in 2010 and took up residence at St. Paul Friary at Graymoor. He was a resident of Cabrini of Westchester Nursing Home at the time of his death.
Br. Hildreth was the son of the late Burton and Margaret (White) Hildreth. He is survived by his twin brother Donald Hildreth who resides in Myrtle Beach, SC and his older brother Eugene Hildreth who resides in Florida.