James Thomas Ward, Jr.

Birth: Oct. 24, 1946 Lewiston Nez Perce County Idaho, USA

Death: Dec. 7, 1993 Lewiston Nez Perce County Idaho, USA

Tom was born to James W. and Ivora M. Wittman Ward.

He attended first grade at St. Stanislaus School in Lewiston and finished grade school at Holy Family School in Clarkston.

He attended Bishop White Seminary and Mater Cleri Seminary, both in Spokane, graduating from the latter in 1965. He then attended Gonzaga University at Spokane and the University of Idaho at Moscow before graduating from Spokane Falls Community College with a degree in commercial art.

In the early 1970s he worked for a year as a staff artist for the Lewiston Morning Tribune and worked as a portrait sketch artist at the World's Fair in Spokane in 1974. In 1977-78 he took part in a yearlong drug study at the University of Washington Seizure Clinic in Seattle.

For the past 10 years he volunteered full time for the liturgy, religious education, parish renewal, Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults and other activities at Holy Family Parish.

In addition to Holy Family Parish, he was a member of the Third Order of Discalced Carmelites, the Knights of Columbus and the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus.

After making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Medjugorje, Yugoslavia, in 1986, he helped establish a Queen of Peace Prayer Group in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley.

He was active in the Cursillo movement, and enjoyed helping with weekend spiritual retreats.

He was a part of the Open Hands Share Group, the Wednesday Morning Men's Fellowship Group and the Friday Morning Share the Word Bible Study. He was a eucharistic minister and lector at Holy Family Parish and, for a time, was a lay speaker at Sunday liturgies.

He enjoyed drawing caricatures of people, planning liturgies, decorating the church and helping with the religious instruction of children.

Lewiston Tribune December 8, 1993