Diocese Mourns Passing of Father Elliott

By Pam Flynn Managing Editor

The Diocese of Memphis lost a longtime faithful servant of the Church on April 17 with the passing of Father Edward Crowe "Ned" Elliott. He was 89.

"The whole diocese joins me in offering our condolences to all those who knew Father Ned and who ministered with him," said Bishop J. Terry Steib, S.V.D. "I have known him as a retired priest for all the years I have been bishop of Memphis. He was a gentle, humorous, faithful and thoughtful priest."

The son of John and Mary Elliott, Edward was born January 20, 1919 in Memphis, Tennessee. After attending college at St. Ambrose in Davenport, Iowa, he entered Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Nashville on September 23, 1944, by Bishop William Lawrence Adrian, D.D., S.T.L., Nashville at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Memphis.

He served the Diocese of Nashville and, later, the Diocese of Memphis as both pastor and associate pastor from 1944 until his retirement in 1986.

His first assignment was as associate pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Memphis in 1944. In 1945, he served at the Cathedral in Nashville. He also served as Administrator at St. Joseph in Memphis, and at Immaculate Conception in Knoxville, TN from 1945-1949.

In 1949, he served St. Thomas Church in Memphis as an assistant and, in January of 1950, he served as pastor of St. Dominic Church in Columbia, TN. In 1961, Father Elliott served as pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Lawrenceburg, TN and was also assigned as Chaplain Friar of the Knights of Columbus.

He served as pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Germantown, TN from 1969-1973 and as Chaplain for the Home for the Aged for Shelby County beginning in 1973. He retired from active duty in 1986. He was a resident of Villa Vianney, the diocesan home for retired priests, until his death.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated April 22 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church by Bishop Steib and concelebrated by fellow priests of the diocese. Father Robert Ponticello preached the homily as requested by Father Ned. Burial was on the Priests' Mound at Calvary Cemetery.