Father Peter Dally

Father Peter Dally was born May 14, 1928, to George and Emma Dally in Freeport, Ill. He died at home in Olympia on July 6, due to complications of multiple myeloma.

Father Dally grew up in Glendale, Calif., and received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in 1950 and a theology degree from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley in 1953.

He was ordained an Episcopal priest in Corvallis, Ore., in 1953. He married Mary Lue Vincent at St. Christopher Episcopal Church in Port Orford, Ore., in 1957.

He was rector of the Church of the Epiphany in Chehalis and pastor of Holy Cross Polish National Catholic Church in Pe Ell, Wash., from 1959 to 1963.

Father Dally assisted at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Lakewood from 1963 to 1964. In 1964, he became vicar of the Church of the Holy Spirit on Vashon. He served as Vashon Island Fire & Rescue’s first chaplain, founded the Bishop’s Guild for Blind Persons and for years ran a sailing camp for blind teenagers at which the young people learned to sail and waterski.

In 1981, Father Dally resigned as an Episcopal priest to enter the Pastoral Provision, a special program under Pope John Paul II, through which Episcopal priests could be ordained Catholic and remain married. The family was received into the Catholic Church at St. John Vianney on Vashon.

In 1983, Father Dally and his wife moved to Tulsa, Okla., where he was ordained in 1985. He served in various capacities there until he retired in 1998.

Throughout his 54-year ministry, Father Dally promoted understanding and brotherhood among all Christians, his family said.

Father Dally and his wife returned to the Pacific Northwest in 2001 to live in Olympia. He was licensed to serve as an Eastern Rite Catholic priest in addition to his Roman Rite faculties. In his retirement he assisted at St. George Byzantine Catholic Church in Olympia.

He was a member of the Knights of Columbus and The Patriarchal Order of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem.

Survivors include Dally’s wife, Mary, son John and daughter-in-law Sherry of Vashon, daughter Monica of Kona, Hawaii, daughter Tess and partner Lena of Homer, Ak., son Kurt of Seeley Lake, Mont., grandchildren Paul and Caitlin Dally of Vashon, and sister, Sister Elsbeth of Jerusalem, Israel, a nun in the Order of Discalced Carmelites.

Father Dally was an iconographer and landscape artist and enjoyed sailing, his family said.

A Byzantine wake will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 10, at St. George Byzantine Catholic Church in Olympia.

Divine liturgy will be held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lacey at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, July 11. Father Dally will be buried at Floras Creek Cemetery in Langlois, Ore., at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 13. Remembrances may be made to St. George Byzantine Catholic Church or Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Skiatook, Okla.