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Father Kazimierz Valeikis, MIC
On July 31, 2010, Fr. Kazimierz Valeikis, MIC, died in Mariampole in his 93rd year of life. Our confrere was born December 5, 1917, to the well-to-do farming family from the village of Inkilai, community of Vaitkuszki, Ukmergė district, parish of Lidokai. In 1931, he went to secondary school in Ukmergė, but in 1934, when his older brothers joined the military, he returned to the family farm. He farmed, learned tailoring, and worked at a print shop in Ukmergė. In 1938, he entered the Marian novitiate. In 1939, he made his first profession of religious vows, and in 1942 – the perpetual profession of vows. From 1938 until the Russian occupation in 1940, he worked at the Marian Publishing House and celebrated the Eucharist. Later he had to do hard manual labor. In 1941, he entered the fourth grade of secondary school, and upon completing the course in 1945, he went to the Seminary in Kaunas. In 1948, he was forced to leave the seminary as a result of the Soviet powers’ action to decrease the number of students at the seminary. He worked at various churches in Vilnius as a sacristan, organist, while studying theology by correspondence. However, he had to stop his studies again. Kazimierz had to take up various jobs, and learned the skills of a stenographer, farmer, and driver. In 1955, he returned to the Kaunas seminary and was ordained a priest on May 25, 1960, by Bishop Julian Steponavicius.
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