More detail on this person: REV. JOHN LAMA, PILOT IN WARTIME AND PASTOR IN PEACE REV. JOHN LAMA, PILOT IN WARTIME AND PASTOR IN PEACE Miami Herald, The (FL) - Thursday, June 2, 1994 Before the Rev. John Lama became a Catholic priest, he had another career: flying helicopters for the U.S. Army. Before he served in his first church, Good Shepherd in Kendall, he helped airlift the wounded out of Vietnam. Lama lost his last battle Sunday when he died of leukemia at age 53. He managed to pack two vocations into his lifetime: First, he served his country, then his God. He rose to the rank of major before retiring in 1986 after 20 years in the Army. Along the way, he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration at the University of Honolulu. "In many ways, I wish I had become a priest sooner, but the life experience in the military helped, too," Lama once told The Herald. "I can identify with problems people are going through. "I enjoy pastoral work, marriage counseling, teaching religion classes and dealing with adults. It's self-fulfillment, self-satisfaction for me." As a young man he dropped out of a seminary, thus attracting the attention of the draft board. Lama opted to enlist in the Army in 1966 in a warrant officer flight training program. He ended up serving in Vietnam, first flying cargo, then a year as a Medivac pilot. "We flew into hot areas evacuating the wounded," Lama once said. "I was saving lives, not taking them. Right then and there, you feel like you're there to help." He earned a Bronze Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the Army, Lama re-enrolled at a seminary, this time graduating with a master's from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1990. He taught himself Spanish by spending 10 weeks in the Dominican Republic. He was ordained as a priest in Dade in 1991 and was a pastoral intern at Good Shepherd. He later worked at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Miramar and was associate pastor at St. Vincent Catholic Church in Margate. Lama was also the fire chaplain for the Miramar and Margate fire departments. "He was an incredible man, extremely loving, very kind," said the Rev. Michael Carruthers, who was ordained with Lama. "Even with his illness he kept that same attitude." "He wasn't your stereotypical priest," said his cousin Gerard Short Jr. "He had a temper. He was stubborn as an ox. But he was inspirational, caring and got involved with the community." In addition to Short, Lama is survived by several other cousins. The funeral Mass begins at 10 a.m. today at St. Vincent Catholic Church, 6350 NW 18th St., Margate.
Burial information: Our Lady Queen of Heaven Cemetery, Fort Lauderdale, FL
This information was last updated 02/13/2019
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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024
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