Father George J. Hickey, missionary

The Rev. George J. Hickey, 64, of Williamsville, died in February 2008 in Consolata Missionaries Regional House of Somerset in Somerset, N.J.

He was born in 1943 in Mineola, Long Island. At the age of 23 he joined the Peace Corps. He was in Thailand for several years teaching English as a second language. Rev. Hickey joined the Consolata Missionaries in 1973 and made his first profession on Aug. 14, 1976 in Buffalo.

Rev. Hickey was ordained a priest on Sept. 21, 1980 in Columbia.

From 1980 to 1984 he lived and worked in the diocese of San Vincenta, Province of Caqueta in southeast Columbia. He returned to the United States in 1985 and was nominated superior of the Consolata House of Studies in Pittsburgh for two years.

In 1988-89 he worked in Washington, D.C. before taking the position of vice regional superior of the U.S. Region in 1990. From 1991-1997 Rev. Hickey was the director of the Mission Appeals Program and from 1998-2002 he fulfilled the duties of vocational director.

In 2003, he was assigned to the Region of Kenya in East Africa where he was the director of the Consolata Religious Shop in Nairobi until January of this year.

He returned to the Somerset Mission Center on Friday, Feb. 15.

Rev. Hickey is survived by a sister, Catherine Hanley.

Services were held Thursday, Feb. 28 at the Amigone Funeral Home in Williamsville.