Eugene John Gerber
Eugene John Gerber (April 30, 1931 – September 29, 2018) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Dodge City in Kansas from 1976 to 1982, and bishop of the Diocese of Wichita in Kansas from 1982 to 2001. Biography Early life Eugene Gerber was born in Kingman, Kansas, to Cornelius and Lena (née Tiesmeyer) Gerber. The fourth of seven children, he had two brothers, Jerome and Larry, and four sisters, Kathleen, Helen, Leola, and Joan. At his baptism on May 1, 1931, the officiating priest predicted to Gerber's father, "Some day this boy will become a priest!" Gerber was raised on a farm in Waterloo, Kansas, and entered Immaculate Conception Seminary in Conception, Missouri, in 1945. Two years later, he transferred to Kingman High School, where he was known as a Frank Sinatra look-alike and graduated in 1949. Gerber studied accounting at Wichita State University before returning to Immaculate Conception Seminary. In May 1955, he graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Denver, Colorado. He obtained a Bachelor of Philosophy degree (1955), a Master of Religious Education degree (1958), and a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree through the seminary's affiliation