Father Jerome "Jerry" Holtzman

Father Jerome Holtzman, long time Catholic pastor and educator, passed away on February 11, 2025, at Jenkins Living Center in Watertown, South Dakota.  He was 94 years old.  He began having accelerated age related issues in recent months.  He held on, as Notre Dame worked its way through the playoffs to the championship game with Ohio State, after which he began to slip away.  He is survived by his sister, Janet Beattie, 97.  The two siblings have talked every day for years. He is also survived by eleven nieces and nephews, sixteen grand nieces and nephews and many cousins around the country.  He is preceded in death by his parents, Victor and Ella Holtzman and three sisters, Patricia Ann, (infant) Mary Katherine Kanies and Roberta Connolley. 

Fr. Jerry was born in 1930 to Victor and Ella Holtzman in Highmore, South Dakota, the youngest of four children.  His father passed away when he was 11.  To support her family, Ella became the first woman to be elected as Hyde County Registrar of Deeds.  Jerry was a good athlete and a good student.  He shined shoes, stocked shelves, candled eggs, retreaded tires, herded sheep, painted houses and worked construction.  During his college years he worked summers in a Swift packing plant and a steel mill in Chicago, while living at the Peter Maurin House.  There, and among the poor of Europe and North Africa, Jerry discovered his vocation to the priesthood.

He went on to St. John’s University, Collegeville, MN, graduating in 1952.  He studied in Vienna, Austria for two years, and attended St. Paul Seminary.  Fr. Jerry was ordained in St. Joseph’s Cathedral in 1957.  He got a Masters Degree in German and French from the University of South Dakota in 1959.  He received a Masters in Theology from the University of San Francisco in 1969 and later studied in Leuven, Belgium.  He was fluent in German, French and Thai.  He often read his nightly office in French.  Fr. Jerry would keep educating himself until the end of his life.

He had many parish postings in eastern South Dakota in his 67 years as a priest: St. Thomas Moore in Brookings, Holy Family in Mitchell, where he served with his lifelong friend Fr. Jim Doyle, St. Agnes in Vermillion, St. Lambert’s in Sioux Falls and Holy Name in Watertown.  Fr. Jerry was a loyal priest and a fervent believer in the reforms of Vatican II.

Fr. Jerry was a ground breaking educator as well as a pastor.  He taught religion, French and German.  At Notre Dame High School in Mitchell he built the first high school language lab in South Dakota.  He taught at O’Gorman High School in Sioux Falls, where he endowed the school with a language scholarship.  In the late 1980’s Jerry was given a sabbatical to join the Maryknolls, who sent him to Thailand for six years. He worked in a refugee camp, among lepers and as a teacher.  He said that he “did not go to evangelize, but to be evangelized”.  When he returned he took up his post as pastor of Holy Name Parish in Watertown.  Fr. Jerry retired from full time parish work in 2000, but continued to help out at Holy Name.  He served as chaplain at Abbey of the Hills until a few years ago. 

Fr. Jerry traveled the world in his long life: Europe, North Africa, Thailand, the Himalayas, Central and South America.   He met and studied the important Catholic thinkers and figures of the 20th century: Padre Pio, Hans Kung, Karl Rahner, Leonardo Boff.  He retained friends from each of his journeys.  His heroes were Thomas Merton and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

Jerry was deeply involved with his sisters’ families and all their children.  He showed up in the Chicago area every Thanksgiving and Christmas after having dispatched his parish duties in South Dakota.  He has counseled numerous nieces and nephews on their paths.

Fr. Jerry Holtzman was a Son of South Dakota.  His spirituality was at home in the rolling hills of the prairies. As his health began to fail in the last years he had an option to move to Indiana to be closer to family.  He declined.  He wanted to stay in Watertown to be near his friends and his life’s work.  He was devoted to the land and to the people of South Dakota.  He will be buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Highmore on Saturday, February 22, 2025, near his parents, his many aunts, uncles and his grandparents, sharing a plot with the dust of his deceased infant sibling, Patricia.

Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 a.m., Friday, February 21, 2025 at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, Watertown, SD. The Most Reverend Donald E. DeGrood, Bishop of Sioux Falls, will be the main celebrant of the Mass and Father John Fischer. This service will be livestreamed via our website.

Visitation will be at the Crawford-Osthus Funeral Chapel in Watertown on Thursday from 4-6 p.m. and prior to the mass. Scripture wake service to follow at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Arrangements by Crawford-Osthus Funeral Chapel www.crawfordosthus.com Watertown and Hayti.  

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