Divine Word Brother John DeBold, 89, a missionary who helped people with disabilities overcome isolation, died on Oct. 13.

Born in Pittsburgh, he began to develop bilateral profound deafness as a teenager but continued to learn with the help of hearing aids and sign language.

A Divine Word confrere once asked about his journey to missionary life, and Brother John responded, “I had the urge to become a priest or missionary since age 17 or so. I knew I was handicapped and knew what it meant and felt like. I had the call to help those in the world who were similar to [me].”

After graduating from high school, Brother John worked in Nabisco’s baking and mixing departments for 17 years. In his mid-30s, he yearned for more, and he entered the Society of the Divine Word in 1973.

He graduated from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., in 1984 and the following year he was assigned to work for the deaf ministry of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. He later was transferred to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and continued working in deaf ministry in the Diocese of Biloxi.

After returning to Pittsburgh to care for his mother, Brother John volunteered at the Pittsburgh Deaf Center, which focuses on deaf clients with developmental disabilities, and worked in Goodwill Industries’ wood shop training program, where he assisted deaf and developmentally disabled clients.