A photograph of Bishop Valtora with Frs. Downs, O'Melia and Keelan at the Anniversary of Father Downs' 25th Anniversary on June 17, 1941. Father O'Melia's 18th Anniversary and Father Keelan's 7th Anniversary. They are posing outside of the chapel. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Fr. Keelan entered Maryknoll in 1926 and was ordained to the priesthood on June 17, 1934. He was assigned to Wuchow, China the following month. His ability in Mandarin was such that he was made professor of that language in Stanley and later in Kweilin. In 1952 he was assigned to Formosa, where he labored among the Mandarin speaking people until 1974. His language skills were put to good use while writing many pamphlets and language texts. -- Rev. O'Melia was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England. His family moved to the U.S. in 1903 and he became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1912. He entered Maryknoll in 1914 and was ordained in 1923. He was assigned to Kongmoon. In 1934 he was assigned to direct the Maryknoll language school in Hong Kong, and returned to Kongmoon in 1942. He went to Shanghai in 1945 to work with UNRRA until 1947. After some years in the U.S. he returned to Hong Kong from 1959-1967, returning to the U.S. in 1968. -- Born in Pennsylvania, Fr. Downs came to Maryknoll in 1920 after being ordained in the Erie Diocese in 1916. He took a perpetual oath to Maryknoll in 1930. He was assigned to Kaying in 1925 and became Society Superior there in 1930. In 1939 he was assigned to teach the Hakka dialect in Hong Kong. He spent many years in Hong Kong and the South China region before returning to the United States in 1969.
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