LIVONIA — Fr. Frederick J. Klettner will be remembered for both his deep love of his Catholic faith and for his dynamic sense of fun, according to those who served closely with him.
Fr. Klettner, 84, the longtime pastor of St. Clare of Assisi Parish in Farmington Hills, passed away Sept. 26 and was buried Oct. 2 following his funeral Mass at St. Edith Catholic Church in Livonia.
“He always was very involved in everything going on at the parish,” Sue Crudgington, who worked alongside Fr. Klettner for 15 years at St. Clare of Assisi (which closed in 2014), told Detroit Catholic. “We had a really active ladies' group and men's group and lots of social functions; he was always there, and he liked to dance, believe it or not. We would sometimes have music, and I’d see him dance. He was very social and just fun to be around.”
Fr. Klettner was born May 11, 1939, in Port Huron. He attended Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit and St. John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth Township. He was ordained June 5, 1965, at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit and celebrated his first Mass at St. Joseph Church in Port Huron.
Fr. Klettner's first assignment was as an associate pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Pontiac (1965-68). From there, he served as associate pastor at St. Alfred Parish in Taylor (1970-80) and St. Alphonsus Parish in Dearborn (1977-80), and as a chaplain at Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital in Pontiac (1968-75). According to his obituary, Fr. Klettner helped start a union at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Pontiac.
F. Klettner served as pastor of SS. Kevin & Norbert Parish in Inkster (1980-94) and St. Clare of Assisi Parish in Farmington Hills (1994-2009). Additionally, Fr. Klettner was vicar of the old Western Wayne Vicariate (1983-86). He was granted senior priest status in 2009.
Crudgington was the religious education director at St. Clare of Assisi Parish when Fr. Klettner served as pastor.
Crudgington said Fr. Klettner loved to tell stories, particularly during his homilies.
“He was very dynamic … a little bit unique,” Crudgington laughed. “His charism was his love for his faith. He was always studying books, and he would outline them and tell us about them.
“He liked to tell stories when he was preaching,” Crudgington added. “He was concerned to bring as many people as possible to God and to the church and unite us.”
Crudgington said one of her fondest memories of Fr. Klettner was his yearly reading of “The Night Before Christmas” at the end of the parish’s Christmas Eve Mass.
“He thought he was W.C. Fields, and he would gather all the children, and they would all come and sit at his feet in front of the altar, and he would recite it,” Crudgington said. “He thought he was an actor; it was hysterical, really. And every single year, he did that, and then he’d give the kids little trinkets. If I asked my kids, that is probably what they would remember about him.”
Even after the parish closed, and Fr. Klettner retired, Crudgington said he continued to keep up with his old parishioners.
“Our ladies' group still occasionally got together with him — it was him and all the ladies, and he just ate that up; he loved it,” Crudgington said. “He will be missed.”
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