9 July 2023

Stanley Anthony Drongowski was born on September 25, 1951, to Stanley and Grace (Kline) Drongowski in Cleveland, Ohio. He was the first of their four children before Grace passed away in August of 1958. His father later married Dorothy (Horning) Drongowski with whom he had four more children. Stanley began grade school in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, at St. Mary School and completed it in Kent, Ohio, at St. Patrick School. He attended high school at Kent State University School and Roosevelt High School.

From 1969-1974, Stanley attended Kent State University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English. A significant even happened when Stanley was finishing his freshman year. On May 4, 1970, while he was walking across campus, student protests of the Vietnam War ended with the Ohio National Guard shooting into the crowd, killing four and wounding nine. The trauma of the event remained with Stanley his whole life.  It was also at Kent State that Stanley was inspired and encouraged to become a Dominican Friar by Sr. Diana Culbertson, O.P., one of his literature professors. Soon after graduation, on October 2, 1974, he entered the novitiate for the Province of St. Albert the Great in Dubuque, Iowa.  A year later on October 4, 1974, he professed first vows at St. Rose Priory where he also began studies for the priesthood at Aquinas Institute of Theology. He professed solemn vows on October 7, 1978, in the hands of Fr. Damian Fandal, O.P., and was ordained to the priesthood at St. Rose Priory on October 6, 1979, by Archbishop James Byrne of Dubuque.

Having completed his M.Div. and M.A. in Theology in the Spring of 1980, Fr. Stan moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to begin his first ministry as an associate pastor at Blessed Sacrament Parish which he did for three years. After complementary studies at the Catholic University of America, he was assigned to St. Dominic Parish in Denver (1984-1987) as an associate pastor where he was also elected prior of the community. In 1987, he was asked to prepare to be novice master so he joined a cohort of new formators in the Order for a program at the Angelicum in Rome. He served the province as novice master from 1988-1993.

In 1994, after a brief sabbatical, Fr. Stan moved to St. Louis Bertrand Priory in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was elected prior while completing his D.Min. in Preaching from Aquinas Institute (1996). His next assignment brought him back to Blessed Sacrament in Madison as pastor until 2003. He was once again elected prior (2000-2003). At the end of his term, he moved to the Dominican Ashram, Friends of God, in Kenosha, Wisconsin (2003-2005).

For the last eighteen years of ministry, Fr. Stan worked primarily with college students. He was part of the initial team of Dominicans to run the campus ministry at Indiana University in Bloomington. He was superior of the community at St. Paul for all eight years. His last assignment brought him to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he was part of a team of Dominicans beginning a new ministry. Fr. Stan worked as chaplain at Aquinas College for a decade. Through this work, Fr. Stan was known for his availability and encouragement, a trusted advisor to young and old alike. He was set to begin limited service when a cardiac event led to a fall while he was on vacation at the province house in Galena, Illinois. Fr. Donald Goergen, O.P., was with him and immediately called for an ambulance. Fr. Stan died on the way to the hospital in Dubuque, Iowa, on the afternoon of July 9, 2023.

Services were held at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in River Forest, Illinois, on Tuesday, July 18. Mass of Christian Burial was at 10:30AM preceded by sung Office of the Dead at 9:30AM. Fr. Louis Morrone, O.P., Prior Provincial, presided and Fr. Donald Goergen, O.P., preached. Bishop David Walkowiak of Grand Rapids was the principal concelebrant. Well over one hundred people were in attendance. Funeral arrangements were handled by Smith-Corcoran Funeral Home. He was buried in the Dominican Section at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois.