Father Leo Kinney

Father Leo Kinney, 60,

Minot, ND, passed away

Monday, November 11,

2019, at St. Luke’s Home

in Dickinson, ND.

Leo Clayton Kinney,

son of Clayton Andrew

and Janet (Leathley) Kin-

ney was born October 2,

1959 at Mt. Home Air

Force Base, Idaho where

he lived his first five years

and completed Kindergar-ten. He was the fifth of six

children. In 1965, he

moved with his family to

East Grand Forks, MN

where he continued his

education at Sacred Heart

Catholic School through

the 3rd grade.

On April 4, 1968 the

family moved to Minot

AFB, ND where they

resided until 1972 when

they moved into Minot

following his father’s re-

tirement. He graduated

from Minot High in 1977

and that fall enrolled at

Minot State University

where he graduated in

1981 with a BA degree in

accounting, management

and math. While attend-

ing MSU he was em-

ployed at Sears.

In 1981, he moved to

Bottineau, ND where he

served as Director of Busi-

ness Administration at the

San Haven Division of the

Grafton Development

Center for five years.

In 1986 he enrolled at

the Cardinal Muench

Seminary in Fargo and

graduated in 1988 with a

BA Degree in Philosophy

and Humanities from

NDSU. He then entered

the St. Paul Seminary

School of Divinity of the

University of St. Thomas

where he earned his Mas-

ter of Divinity in May of

1991. He was ordained a

deacon on December 7,

1991 at St. Paul Seminary

and was ordained a priest

on June 6, 1992 at St.

Mary’s Cathedral in Fargo

by Bishop James Sullivan.

He served in St. Mary’s in

Fargo, and in churches in

Anamoose, Esmond, Bal-

four, Orrin, and Drake; in

Reynolds; in Hillsboro; in

Larimore; his final service

to the diocese was as full

time chaplain to the

Veterans Hospital in Far-

go.

Towards the end of his

life, Fr. Kinney suffered

from ill health. He retired

in 2017 and moved to

Minot to live near family.

Fr. Kinney liked theolo-gy and was happy to give

answers when questions

came up. He learned nee-

dle pointing and enjoyed

square dancing and read-

ing. He had a Fontanini

Nativity set to which he

faithfully added new fig-

ures each year.

Surviving family in-

cludes: brothers, David

(Gloria) of Berthold, ND,

Donald of Minot; sisters,

Pauline Brown of Selma,

NC and Lynne Rhoades of

Minot, ND, sister-in-law

Lana (Peter) Kinney of Ra-

pid City; nephews and

nieces and other family

members.

Father Leo was preced-

ed in death by: his

parents; and one brother

Peter.

Mass of Christian Buri-

al: Saturday, November

16, 2019, at 10 a.m. at Our

Lady of Grace Catholic

Church, Minot.

Interment: Rosehill

Memorial Park, Minot,

ND.

Visitation: Friday from

4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at

Thompson-Larson Fun-

eral Home, Minot.

Vigil Prayer Service:

Friday at 7 p.m. at

Thompson-Larson Fun-

eral Home, Minot.

Memorials: are pre-

ferred to the Diocese of

Fargo Seminarian Fund or

St. Leo the Great Building

fund.

Those wishing to sign

the online register and

share memories may ac-

cess the online obituaries

section at www.thompson

larson.com.