Longtime cathedral parishioner left legacy of prayer in Alaska

CatholicAnchor.org
An influential and longtime Anchorage Catholic, Kenneth Robert Wichorek, 84, died on May 10 at Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage.

For years the tall, dignified and white haired Wichorek drove to Holy Family Cathedral in downtown Anchorage before the start of noon Mass. There he led parishioners in the rosary — a prayer he said nearly every day of his life while meditating on the mysteries of the life of Jesus Christ — from his divine conception, to his institution of the Eucharist, to his painful steps to Calvary, to his resurrection from the dead.

Wichorek’s funeral Mass was held May 13 in the same church where he spent countless hours in prayer. He was buried at the Angelus Memorial Park Cemetery.

He was a fixture at the downtown cathedral, teaching catechism for 15 years and assisting the Dominican priests as a lector, extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, altar server and sacristan.

In 2012 Wichorek wrote a book, “Meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary” with hopes that others would pick up rosary beads and spiritually join the Blessed Virgin, who always points people to her Divine Son.

“The rosary is the life of Christ,” Wichorek told the Catholic Anchor in a 2013 interview. “Mary leads us to Christ. If you love Jesus you’re bound to love the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

Wichorek’s walk with Christ began in the cradle.

Born in 1931 in Cleveland, Ohio, he served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War before marrying his wife Rita and raising four children. He spent most of his professional career as a civil engineer.

In 2013, Wichorek recalled that his first memories of the rosary went back to his Polish-American parish in Cleveland, Ohio, where on Wednesday and Friday evenings parishioners prayed together as World War II raged abroad.

Through the years, his faith in Christ and service to the church remained a constant.

In his obituary the family wrote: “Dear Ken, Your family thanks you for all your love and care, for providing us with such a wonderful home filled with great memories, and most of all for praying for each one of us. May you rest in peace.”

“As far back as I can remember he’s always had a very deep, strong faith,” explained Wichorek’s daughter Mary Kinder during a 2013 interview with the Anchor.

While she was in high school she and her father went to Mass together in the early mornings. Across the years she joined her parents’ pilgrimages to Rome and the shrine to the Blessed Virgin as Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.

Kinder said that her dad’s strong faith and endurance in the rosary have proved fruitful for her and her three brothers. All are practicing Catholics.

“I have a deep love and a deep appreciation of my faith,” she said. “It’s like the greatest gift I could have ever received.”

In his 2012 book Wichorek noted that following Christ is challenging but worth it.

“Keep praying. Keep up hope,” he wrote. “Go to confession and the Eucharist. Pray daily. You will be triumphant in the end.”