Fr. Kenneth Frisbie

Reverend Kenneth J. Frisbie, 84, passed away Saturday, January 17, 2009, in the Archbishop Daniel A. Cronin Residence at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield.

Father Frisbie was born June 23, 1924, in Bridgeport the son of the late Russell and Margaret (Roche) Frisbie. He graduated from Sacred Heart School and Central High School before entering St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield. Father Frisbie was ordained May 6, 1948 in St. Joseph Cathedral in Hartford by The Most Reverend Henry J. O'Brien, D.D.

His assignments included serving as an assistant at Sacred Heart Church in Bloomfield from 1948 to 1957. During that time he also served as an instructor at Mt. St. Joseph Academy in West Hartford. From 1957 to 1967 he served as an assistant at St. John the Baptist Church in New Haven and at St. Bridget Church in Manchester from 1967 to 1970. In 1970, Father Frisbie was assigned as an assistant to St. Bridget Church in Cheshire for the purpose of starting the mission. In 1971, Father Frisbie became the first pastor of the new St. Thomas Becket Church in Cheshire where he served until his retirement on June 30, 2000.

Father Frisbie is survived by a sister-in-law Ann Frisbie of New Haven; his three nephews Edward J. Frisbie and his wife Diane of Middlebury and Kenneth J. Frisbie and wife Linda of West Haven, Lawrence Carroll and friend Marcia Morlando of Stratford; six nieces Mary Lee Frisbie of New Haven; Maryhelen Carroll of Waterbury, Barbara Dorman of Sebring, Florida, Evelyn Smith and her husband John of Noble, OK, Geraldine Bronson and her husband Theodore of Huntington and Helen Levine and her husband Edward of Stratford; his niece Patricia's widower Gilbert McCord of Pine Bush, NY; his two great nephews Mathew Frisbie and his wife Ana of West Haven and Brendan Carroll of Arlington, Virginia; four great nieces Dana Frisbie of West Haven, Kimberly Frisbie of West Haven, Shannon Zdancewicz of Atlanta, GA and Caitlin Murphy of Kenmore, NY.

Arrangements ' The Reverend Kenneth Frisbie will lie in state Thursday January 22, 2009 from 4 to 8 p.m. at St. Thomas Becket Church, 435 North Brooksvale Rd., Cheshire with a Parish Mass being held at 8 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday January 23, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. in St. Thomas Becket Church, with The Most Reverend Henry J. Mansell, Archbishop of Hartford, as principal celebrant. Burial will follow in St. Bridget Cemetery. The Slater Funeral Home, 242 South Main St. is in charge of arrangements.