A Vermont native, Fr. Yvon, 74, grew up in a French-Canadian family near the Canadian border. French was his first language. He professed his first vows in 1969 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1978.
Fr. Yvon spent many years in South Dakota ministering on the Cheyenne River (nine years), Lower Brule and Crow Creek Reservations (12 years). He is credited with being the architect of the team ministry approach that continues to be used on the reservations. Visitors to South Dakota may remember his frequent line: “And all this could be yours” as he waved his hand towards the South Dakota prairie, encouraging other religious to join him in ministry at the birthplace of the US Province.
In 2001, Fr. Yvon was elected to the Provincial Council; he served as vice-provincial from 2001-2010. When elected to his first three-year term, he was also named Province Vocation Director. He continued as director until 2007, when he was named pastor of St. Martin of Tours parish in Franklin, WI; he was pastor for 10 years.
Since 2017, Fr. Yvon had been the Residential Director of the ECS (formerly “ESL”) program at Sacred Heart Monastery. Reflecting on those years, Dr. Paul Monson, Vice President of Intellectual Formation & Academic Dean (CAO) at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology, wrote to staff and students
“In our community, many of us knew Fr. Yvon as the Residential ECS Program Coordinator. His countless, selfless hours have been the backbone of our English and Culture Studies program through the years. He shared American culture with our ECS students at every turn, from sublime art on the lakefront to a banal run to Walgreens. Every ECS student knew him, and throughout the world there are many ECS alumni who remember him with love. Only a year ago in Brazil, I would occasionally meet someone only to hear, ‘Oh, Hales Corners? How is Fr. Yvon?’ Three years ago, I learned firsthand how much his memory is revered in South Dakota, from parishes in Lower Brule and Crow Creek to three elderly nuns in Marty.
“Holiday decorations will not be the same without him. Neither will we. He will be dearly missed.”
Always a sense of hope
“In his ministry as a priest, whether in South Dakota or in Wisconsin, Fr. Yvon offered people a sense of hope in hopelessness situations,” said Fr. Francis Vu Tran, SCJ, in his homily at the Funeral Mass for Fr. Yvon. “When life threw a lemon, Fr. Yvon showed people how to make a sugarfree lemonade. He believed that the God who has given all for us would also give us everything needed to help us get through the darkness of life…
“Fr. Yvon was the type of person who could smile even when life threw challenges at him, such as his many months in the care facility at St. Camillus to treat a difficult foot issue [Charcot]. He was in pain and suffered a lot during those days but still chose to befriend nurses, caregivers and others who happened to be near him. As the Gospel related, ‘I will never drive them away.’ Fr. Yvon would never drive people away. He was an instrument of hope to all.”
Friend to international students
“To me, Fr. Yvon was a soft cushion for those of us who had just arrived in America as foreign students,” wrote Fr. Albertus Joni, an SCJ from Indonesia who studied in the US Province for several years. “His warm smile, and his ever-ready pockets full of chocolate and gummy bears, eased our anxieties about speaking English. He was almost always smiling — even when we, the ESL (now ECS – English and Culture studies) and other international students at the SCJ community in Hales Corners, made endless mistakes.
“Fr. Yvon embodied the SCJ Province of the United States’ spirit of generosity and hospitality. Year after year, he welcomed dozens of new students from different countries, cultures, and languages, each with his own needs, each a stranger at first. But he embraced every one of us as brothers and sisters, living out Fr. Dehon’s vision of the Kingdom of God. It takes extraordinary patience to care for so many international students, to ensure that each one feels seen, valued, and supported.
“When I went through a crisis during my advanced studies in America, Fr. Yvon didn’t judge me or pressure me for answers. Instead, he simply sat with me, listened, and prayed. ‘Your life and your vocation will be used by God in ways far beyond what you can see now,’ he told me. I was deeply comforted, knowing that my discernment was being affirmed by the wisdom of his years.
“Thank you, Fr. Yvon, for your life, for your kindness, for the gift of yourself. I will always cherish our moments of playing cards, laughing, and even shedding tears together. To me, and to so many priests and religious from around the world, you will always be remembered as the welcoming face of America, the face that saw differences not as barriers but as God’s blessings.”
Fr. Yvon is survived by his sister Carmen, his brothers Michael and Raymond, his nephew Francis.
LIVESTREAM OF THE MASS OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL: