My Aviation Brother, Fr. Richard Roach, SJ
Boeing Field in Seattle, the birthplace of Fr. Richard Roach, SJ. In the map below, 1 indicates St. John Vianney Catholic Church, where Fr. Roach was pastor, and 2 indicates Boeing Field, where Capt. Joel Stoller landed.
The Jesuits will always be favorites, starting with St. Ignatius of Loyola, as I journey in life. But my favorite Jesuit has to be Fr. Richard Roach, SJ (1934-2008). As a student at Marquette University (MU), I registered for a required core theology class in the spring of 1979. It didn’t take long for me to realize that Fr. Roach and I had something in common besides academic pursuits.
At the time, I was working on earning my commercial pilot certificate and instrument rating, and I learned that Fr. Roach had flown F-86 Sabre fighter jets in the Air Force in 1955, before he entered the Jesuits. We talked more about flying than anything else before and after class! Father Roach impressed me as a true Renaissance man, mastering many disciplines in true Jesuit tradition, including flying, teaching and earning a PhD from Yale. He would reminisce about the challenging parts of a flying career: waking up at o-dark-thirty to accomplish preflight duties and preparing to fly in adverse weather conditions during squadron practice missions. It all prepared me for the inevitable days ahead in my career as a commercial pilot. Later, I often recalled Fr. Roach’s comments about dedication and persistence during his Air Force career, many times needing to rise myself to the occasions he had foretold.
Then, as fate would have it, some 44 years after we met, in September of 2023, I logged my 25,000th hour—a milestone for aviators— by flying into Boeing Field in Seattle, his birthplace. I flew right over Vashon Island, where he had been pastor of St. John Vianney Catholic Church. I’m hoping he would have smiled from above as I descended into Boeing Field. I most certainly wanted to salute him, as he had created cherished lifetime memories for me during my days at Marquette, where he taught for more than 20 years. Thank you, Jesuit brother aviator Fr. Roach!
