SIDNEY — The Rev. Tony Cutcher, a Lehman High School graduate and U.S. Navy veteran, will celebrate Mass on Sunday, Sept. 6, at 10:30 a.m. in front of the AVTT-TWF Vietnam Memorial replica wall at Custenborder Field, 449 Riverside Drive.
A representative of every Catholic church in Shelby County also will take part in the Mass, which is part of the Shelby County Historical Society’s Week of Valor commemorations.
Attendees should take lawn chairs.
Cutcher lived in Piqua until he graduated from Lehman in 1977. Shortly after graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served onboard a submarine as a nuclear power and computer programmer. After leaving the Navy, he served as comptroller at several small firms in Nashville, Tennessee. It was during this time that he was called to the priesthood and to pursue his Bachelor of Philosophy at Pontifical College Josephinum. He attended St. Marys’s of the West Seminary, where he earned a Master of Divinity.
He was ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati by the Most Rev. Daniel Pilarczyk in 1999. He has served in a variety of pastoral assignments, including at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Saint Marys. Cutcher is now the pastor of St. Peter Catholic Church in Huber Heights and Our Lady of the Rosary, Holy Cross and St. Adalbert Catholic churches in Dayton. He is a past president of the National Federation of Priests Councils.
Local people assisting with the service are Jeanne Schlagetter, Mike Greve, Linda Long, Eric Jackson, Theodore Jackson, Dan Ernst, Duane Gaier, Tom Rossman and Cecil Steele, all members of the Holy Angels Catholic Church in Sidney; Larry Huecker, a member of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in McCartyville; Amy Ahrns, a member of the St. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Newport; Lucy Gaier, a member of the St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Fort Loramie; Phyllis Guillozet, a member of the St. Denis Catholic Church in Versailles; Judy Thamen and Rob Geussinger, members of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Botkins; Jake Guillozet, a member of the St. Remy Catholic Church in Russia; musicians Ethan Potts, Karen Stockstill and Alex Vanderhorst; and gift bearers, the Jessica and Derick Skinner family.
The organizing committee were Schlagetter, Stockstill, Tilda Phlipot and Cindy DeLuke.
