Post date: Aug 17, 2009 10:58:13 PM

Retired Cozad dentist knew it was what God called him to do after wife’s death

At seminary, Wetovick’s the patriarch

By HARRY G. PERKINS Hub Regional Correspondent, Posted: Monday, August 17, 2009; Kearney HUB on line at: http://www.kearneyhub.com

JOHNSON LAKE - Students will soon be entering schools and colleges. Few will have the experiences to draw on that 73-year-old Jerry Wetovick of Johnson Lake has.

Wetovick, a retired Cozad dentist, will soon enter his third year as a seminarian at Sacred Heart School of Theology at Hales Corner, Wis., which is near Milwaukee.

This spring, he completed the second year of the three-year program for men who enter the Roman Catholic priesthood as a second career. He was ordained a transitional deacon May 29.

Wetovick owns a 5,500-square-foot lakefront home at Johnson Lake. As a seminary student, his accommodations are about the size of one large storage closet in his home at the lake.

His life changed six months after he retired from dentistry when his wife, Pat, died suddenly from an aneurism Jan. 13, 2007, at their home.

Jerry and Pat had five children who took turns staying overnight with their father. On the sixth night he was alone for the first time.

"I couldn't sleep," Wetovick says, describing how he walked about the house. "I was mad at God … really mad. I demanded, 'Why did you take my wife?'

"All I wanted was to sleep, and when it came it was the greatest peace I've ever had. The next day, I knew what I was supposed to do."

Wetovick believes God was preparing him for what he was about to do. There have been many years of faith in which he had been involved in all aspects of life within the church. He has been further inspired with an extensive collection of religious texts he has accumulated in his adult life.

He says, "God called me, waiting for his moment."

Wetovick called Bishop William J. Dendinger of the Grand Island Diocese. Wetovick was referred to a priest who guided him into studies for the priesthood.

At the seminary he is called "the patriarch" because he is the oldest student.

"Eighteen of the seminarians are men who lost their wives," he said

He laughs, recalling the good-natured kidding he gets. "They ask me, 'What're you gonna do in Nebraska, Wetovick? Bless cows?'"

June 4, 2010, he will be ordained a priest. His assignment will be revealed within a couple months of his ordination.

"God and the Bishop will know, and then I'll know."

Wetovick was born in Fullerton, where he took his first communion. "We were poor, but I didn't know it."

The family moved to Kearney, where he attended St. James Catholic School four years. He graduated from Kearney High School in 1953.

He has fond memories of Kearney. One of his proud moments occurred in 1948 when he was named outstanding paper carrier for the Kearney Hub.

He graduated from Kearney State Teachers College, then studied dentistry at the University of Nebraska and practiced his profession 45 years at Cozad.

He and his wife raised what he describes as an ecumenical family. Of their five children, one is now a Baptist, another is a Lutheran, and a third is a Methodist.

He has 14 grandchildren. It seems unique, but each of his daughters has daughters while each of his sons has sons.

He speaks with conviction when he says, "Everything before the present time was God preparing me to serve as a priest."