Pastor and decorated Army chaplain was a master of languages
DUPONT
Father Oliver Lee Hightower, a longtime educator, Army chaplain and pastor of St. John Bosco Parish in Lakewood, died May 7. He was 77.
Father Hightower was born in Havre, Mont., on July 19, 1935, to Oliver and Mary Hightower and grew up in Butte, Mont., where he attended Butte Central High School. He went on to Carroll College in Helena, enrolled in a pre-seminary program and earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy.
He received a master’s degree in languages from the University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium. He studied foreign languages at the Goethe Institute in Munich and the Sorbonne in Paris. He was ordained a priest on June 26, 1961, in Brussels.
Teacher and chaplainFather Hightower returned to Carroll College and taught French and German before heading to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he received a master’s degree in linguistics. He then returned again to Carroll College, where he taught languages including Greek and Italian. He next traveled to the University of Washington to earn his doctorate in philosophy before once again returning to Carroll College to teach philosophy and theology, eventually becoming the dean of students.
After being asked by ROTC students to celebrate Mass for their unit, Father Hightower joined the Army Reserve. He eventually joined the active-duty Army, attended chaplain school at Fort Bliss in Texas and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.
His assignments included Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Belgium; Korea, where he remembered celebrating Mass on the hood of a jeep in the field; and Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, where he celebrated Mass on Waikiki Beach while the congregation sat in lawn chairs.
He attended command and staff school and was promoted to the rank of major. His last assignment was at Fort Lewis, where he served as chaplain for nine years. He was discharged with the rank of lieutenant colonel in 2002 after 15 years as an Army chaplain on active duty and seven years as a reservist. During his Army career, he received six Army Commendation Medals and four Meritorious Service Medals.
Ten-year pastorateFather Hightower was incardinated in the Archdiocese of Seattle on July 1, 2002, and served as pastor of St. John Bosco Parish in Lakewood and Immaculate Conception Mission in Steilacoom for the next 10 years. He was the priest moderator for Sacred Heart Parish in Lacey from 2004–10. He also served the residents of Anderson Island and ministered to the inmates of McNeil Island Corrections Center.
He led several pilgrimages to Italy, Spain, Ireland and France. After celebrating his 50th ordination anniversary in 2011, he retired from his pastorate in July of 2012.
Father Hightower never let his academic degrees or military rank define him, but was always a priest in service to God and his people, his family recalled.
He was preceded in death by his great-niece Molly Hightower, who was volunteering at an orphanage when she was killed in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
He is survived by his brother, John; nephews Mike, Paul, Jeff and Jesuit Father Craig Hightower; nieces Therese Hightower and Christina Zimmerman; and great-nephews and nieces Jordan, Zach, Sean, Olivia, Isabel, Broghan and Hailey.
A funeral Mass was celebrated May 13 at St. John Bosco Church. Remembrances may be made to the Pierce County Habitat for Humanity.
May 30, 2013