Name: Smoley, John C.
Born: 01/30/1873
Where Born: Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Austria
Ordained: 07/18/1899
Where Ordained: Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria
Served From-To: 1909-1910
Died: 07/23/1938
Where Died: Dodge City, Kansas
Buried: Maple Grove Cemetery Altar Square of Old Calvary, Grave 10-Dodge City KS, 1938 Jul 25
Note: (His gravestone says he was ordained in 1896 -his “life history on the Dodge City Diocesan website says he was ordained in 1895)
Obituary: Diocese of Dodge City Kansas
July 23, 1938
Father John Smolej
Father Smolej (Smoley) was born Jan. 19, 1873 in Je-
senice, Yugoslavia, and was ordained in his native country
in 1895. He accepted a chaplaincy in the Austrian army in
1903 and rose to the rank of captain before he resigned in
1907 to come to the United States.
Father Smolej spoke fluent English, German, Russian,
Polish, Slovak and Croatian. His linguistic ability made his
services greatly in demand in the foreign settlements around
this country.
His pastoral assignments took him to the mission fields
around Indianapolis, Ind.; New Hradec, N.Dak.; Iron
River, Wisc.; Zealand, S.D.; Calio, N.D.; Roscoe, S.D.;
and McKeesport, Pa.
In 1936, after becoming ill, Father Smolej retired from
active service and entered St. Francis Sanitarium at Colo-
rado Springs. After staying at the sanitarium for more than
a year, his doctor advised him to go to Dodge City “where
the altitude would be low and more conducive to his health
concerns.”
He took up residence at St. Anthony Hospital in October
of 1937 and remained there until his death. He suffered a
stroke of apoplexy and then died several weeks later of a
heart attack July 23, 1938.
Father Smolej had a unique quality for making friends,
and as a patient in the hospital made a great many friends.
Father Alexander Linneman, CPP.S., the hospital chap-
lain, celebrated the funeral at Sacred Heart Church in Dodge
City. Burial was in the lot reserved for priests in Maple Grove
Cemetery. The parish death registry notes that he was a priest
from the Diocese of Superior in Wisconsin