Although the Rev. Jim Egan, S.J., was raised in Omaha and spent his last years here, many of his friends said his true home was in Africa.

Egan, who died of cancer on Oct. 2, moved to the East Africa Province, first for language studies at Loyola House in Nairobi, Kenya in 1998 and then as pastoral minister in Kampala, Uganda.

The Rev. Burt Thelen, S.J., said Egan loved Uganda and hadn’t wanted to come back to Creighton three years ago when he had his first struggle with cancer.

His life was celebrated at a wake on Monday and at a memorial service Tuesday. In an open mic at the wake and in interviews, friends described the priest who looked to take care of those who were considered lost. “He put himself in a role of vulnerability and he was very compassionate,” Thelen said. “He was so human and transparent to himself that he was able to help others do the same.”

Thelen said Egan had connections to priests throughout the country because he had helped so many through difficult situations as a servant minister of priests.

“We used to joke that he was a compulsive listener,” Thelen said. “He always had a longing to do more, to be more.”

Richard Halpine went to high school with him and said they grew up in each other’s houses.

“We were like family,” Halpine said. “I remember his Irish temper, but mostly I remember that he was a really good Jesuit.”

Egan was born in Ponca, Neb. on April 13, 1935, and ordained a priest in 1954.

Egan completed his regency at Campion Jesuit High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisc. from 1959 to 1962.

“Jesuits are encouraged to go where nobody else wants to go and do the things nobody else wants to do – teaching sophomores in high school,” the Rev. Larry Gillick, S.J., joked in the homily at the funeral Mass.

Gillick said Egan took life seriously and the lives of others more so. He wanted to live as Jesus lived and looked to take care of those who were considered lost. He spent the better part of his career teaching and ministering in Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

The Rev. Dick McCaslin, S.J., graduated from Creighton Prep High School with Egan and said he was a quiet, reserved student at the time.

“In all the years I’ve known him, he hasn’t changed a bit,” McCaslin said.

The two entered the Jesuits on the same day, and those first few years of priesthood were hard for Egan, McCaslin said.

Friends at his wake spoke about his personal struggles in his early life. After being ordained in 1965, he entered an outpatient program for alcoholism.

Linda Hayek, president of the Pastoral Council, said she met Egan four years ago.

“In his Good Friday homily, he said ‘God comes to us disguised as our life,'” Hayek said. “I believe God came into my life disguised as Jim Egan.”

She said he loved helping people so much that it was a grief for him not to return to Uganda after he recovered from cancer three years ago. It wasn’t until the past few weeks the cancer returned.

Egan’s wake was held Oct. 6, and his funeral was held Oct. 7. Since Egan had been back in Omaha, he was saying Mass at St. Benedict of Moore Catholic Church.

Ernie Spicer, a deacon at St. Benedict’s, said he will remember him as a loving and kind man.

“I remember the very first day, the people just fell in love with him,” Spicer said. “They loved the way he presided, he preached, the way he was present to all of us … Fr. Jim, God bless you.”