Nineteenth Pastor, 2002-2005
Following the untimely death of Fr. Al in 2002, the Archdiocese decided not to “open list” Old St. Mary’s because of the size of the parish, which was then one of the smaller parishes in the area. Instead the parish was linked with Holy Cross/Immaculata on Mount Adams and Fr. Stan became the nineteenth pastor.
Father Stanley H. Neiheisel was born on March 5, 1934, in Cincinnati and passed away on Friday, January 29, 2016. He did his preparatory studies at St. Gregory Seminary and studied theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West. Fr. Neiheisel also received a Master’s degree in Education from Xavier University. He was ordained to the priesthood on August 28, 1960 at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral by Archbishop Karl J. Alter.
On June 16, 1961, Fr. Neiheisel received his first assignment as assistant at St. Lawrence Church in Price Hill (Cincinnati). Then, in August 1961, he was appointed both assistant at Resurrection Church in Dayton and part-time teacher at Carroll High School, Dayton. One year later he became a full-time teacher, continuing at Resurrection.
On December 30, 1965, he was assigned as assistant chaplain at Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton. On May 25, 1968, he was appointed acting principal of Carroll High School , and in June of that year became an assistant at Ascension Parish, Kettering. , Fr. Neiheisel was appointed principal of Fenwick High School, Middletown, on June 19, 1974 and associate at St. Mary Parish, Middletown, becoming administrator of St. Mary on September 10, 1974.
Fr. Neiheisel was appointed resident associate at St. John Parish, Middletown, in 1978; pastor of Nativity of Our Lord Parish, Pleasant Ridge (Cincinnati) in 1979; and pastor of All Saints Parish, Kenwood, in 1984. and on October 1994 he became resident associate of St. Mary Congregation, North College Hill. He was then appointed associate pastor of St. John the Baptist, Harrison, in July 1995. He was appointed Pastor of Holy Cross-Immaculata, Mt. Adams (Cincinnati), in June 1996 and to the additional post of parochial administrator of Old St. Mary’s Parish, Over-the-Rhine (Cincinnati), in October 2002.
Fr. Neiheisel retired on July 1, 2005.
On the 50th anniversary of his ordination, Father Neiheisel said: “When I look back on fifty years, I realize every day that I didn’t choose God, He chose me.”