Divine Word Father William (Gordian) Halvey, 95, died July 4 in Techny. He had served in Papua New Guinea as a brother and as a priest, and took on duties there and in the United States from being a postmaster and office worker to teacher, pastor and retreat center director.

Born in Chicago, he attended St. Mel High School before entering the U.S. Army, serving for a year in Japan with U.S. occupation troops. He then attended Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, for two years begore entering the Divine Word Brothers Candidate School. He professed first vows in 1954 and perpetual vows in 1960.

After an assignment as postmaster in Techny, he was sent to Papua New Guinea. He went to seminary in Australia and was ordained to the priesthood in Techny in 1976, before returning to Papua New Guinea.

In 1985, he returned to the United States and taught high school in Spokane, Washington, before serving as director of the St. Augustine Retreat Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, for 11 years. In 2003, he became chaplain to the cloistered Benedictine Sisters at San Beneto Monastery in Dayton, Wyoming, assisting at the local parish on weekends, before moving to the Divine Word community in Bordentown, N.J., In 2007, he moved to Techny to retire full time.