A memorial Mass for Father John J. Wetmore was celebrated Aug. 27 at Mary Queen of Peace Church in Webster Groves. Father Wetmore died Aug. 12 at the age of 79.
He was born in St. Louis on May 7, 1947, to Charles H. and Loris (Jones) Wetmore and was baptized on June 8, 1947, at Mary Queen of Peace in Webster Groves. He attended St. Louis University High School, Cardinal Glennon College and Kenrick Seminary. Cardinal John J. Carberry ordained him to the priesthood on May 19, 1973, at the Saint Louis Cathedral.
Father Wetmore served as an associate pastor at All Souls in Overland from 1973-75, part-time associate pastor at St. Hedwig in St. Louis and on the faculty of Bishop DuBourg High School in St. Louis from 1975-77. In 1977, he was missioned to the archdiocese’s Latin American Apostolate in Bolivia, where he served for more than five years.
In 1982, he returned to St. Louis and was assigned as associate pastor at St. Robert Bellarmine in St. Charles until 1987. He also was an associate pastor at St. Francis de Sales in St. Louis from 1987-90. In 1990, he was named pastor of Visitation-Holy Ghost in St. Louis.
Father Wetmore was a senior associate pastor at St. Stephen Protomartyr in St. Louis from 1991-97, St. Joseph in Manchester from 1997-2002 and St. Paul in Fenton from 2002-05. He was pastor at St. Clare in St. Clair from 2005-06.
After a medical leave, he became senior associate pastor at St. Gabriel the Archangel in St. Louis, where he served from 2015-18. He retired in 2018.
Father Wetmore donated his body to science.
