Benedictine Father Timothy M. Ottman, who came to Hawaii more than 30 years ago to work as a parish priest for a decade before retiring at the Benedictine Monastery in Waialua, died Dec. 5 in a Waialua foster care home. He was 92. He had been in religious life, first as a Trappist monk, since 1952.
In retirement he continued to volunteer in island parishes, assisting when pastors went on vacation or needed extra help.
“He enjoyed being with people, ministering to them,” according to his superior Benedictine Father David Barfknecht. “He was very likeable.”
“He was down to earth, good natured, with an occasional rascal streak,” he said.
Father Ottman was born William Francis Ottman, the second of two brothers and five sisters, in Rochester, N.Y., on Feb. 25, 1921.
His family moved to California where he grew up. He entered the minor seminary in Los Angeles in 1941, but then left and served in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1945 as a technician fourth grade.
In 1952, Father Ottman joined Holy Trinity Trappist Abbey in Huntsville, Utah, where he made his first vows on March 19, 1955, taking the name Timothy. As a monk, he worked in the abbey bakery and on the farm.
Brother Timothy got involved in the charismatic renewal and in 1972 transferred to the Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Pecos, N.M., which had welcomed the movement. He became a Benedictine in 1973.
In the late 1970s, Father Ottman returned to seminary training in Washington, D.C., and San Antonio, Texas, and was ordained a priest on May 13, 1978.
In 1982, Father Ottman received permission to do parish work in Hawaii and was assigned as an associate pastor at St. Joseph Church, Hilo, serving from October 1982 to February 1986. He then was named administrator of Our Lady of Lourdes in Honokaa, serving there for five years.
For most of his years on the Big Island he was officially a member of Hawaii Benedictine community on Oahu, according to his superior Father David Barfknecht, but as a parish priest “he was pretty much on his own.”
Upon reaching the retirement age of 70, Father Ottman moved to the Benedictine Monastery in Waialua where he participated in the regular rotation of cooking and yard duties while also caring for the community garden for a number of years.
He continued to offer his services in parishes, which, according to Father Barfknecht, he would do for at least one month out of the year in addition to occasional weekends.
Four years ago, Father Ottman took a sabbatical in Tatum, N.M., where he provided services at a parish that had no resident priest. By the time he returned to Hawaii, his health had declined. This past June he moved to a foster care home about two miles from the monastery. Community members took turns bringing him the Eucharist daily.
“Father Tim will be remembered for his laughter and humorous remarks, engaging smile and the twinkle in his eyes,” Father Barfknecht said. “He loved to watch cowboy movies and DVDs about the early days in the West. To the question ‘What can we bring you?’ His answer was always ‘ice cream.’”
A private funeral Mass was celebrated in December at the monastery. A memorial Mass is scheduled for 10 a.m., Jan. 4, at St. Michael Church in Waialua. A reception will follow in the parish hall.
Father Ottman is survived by sisters and a brother and many nieces and nephews. His ashes will be laid to rest in an urn in the crypt under the tabernacle in the monastery chapel.
