The late Father Ralph Huar is pictured in May 2019 celebrating a wedding at St. George in Long Lake, a parish where he served for 11 years. He was retired at the time, but family members asked if he would perform the ceremony.

The late Father Ralph Huar is pictured in May 2019 celebrating a wedding at St. George in Long Lake, a parish where he served for 11 years. He was retired at the time, but family members asked if he would perform the ceremony. COURTESY ST. GEORGE

Jovial, compassionate and big-hearted are ways Father Ralph Huar is remembered by those who knew him well. A retired priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Father Huar died Oct. 4 trapped beneath a backhoe at a construction site adjacent to his home in Little Falls. Police were investigating the incident.

“He had a quirky sense of humor, very compassionate and big-hearted. He always seemed so full of life, so jovial,” said Sara Dore, parish secretary at St. George in Long Lake, where Father Huar, 82, served 11 years before retiring from active ministry in 2014.

Father Huar had a cabin in Little Falls where he lived from spring through fall, Dore said. He spent winters at “a small place” in Florida, she said. He loved gardening, particularly flowers, Dore said, adding that she had talked with him earlier this summer.

Ordained in 1981, Father Huar served the archdiocese for 33 years.

At St. George, Father Huar helped with landscaping and beautifying the parish cemetery, Dore said. He also brought the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd to the parish for its faith formation program and persuaded a number of people to serve as teachers, she said.

Elaine Schneider, a longtime parishioner of Sacred Heart in Rush City, where Father Huar ministered from 1988 to 2002, said he was a golfer and a gardener, personable, a friend and “a real person.” The rectory door was always open, she said, and Father Huar welcomed visitors any time, with no appointment needed.

Schneider, 75, said she sought counseling assistance from Father Huar years ago. She and her late husband also welcomed him to their home for dinner. “I could call at the last minute,” she said, and Father Huar would head over.

“He was a good priest,” Schneider said. “A good man.”

Between his time at Sacred Heart and St. George, Father Huar was pastor of St. Joseph in Miesville, St. Mary in New Trier and St. Mathias in Hampton.

He first ministered for two years at St. Pascal Baylon in St. Paul, then four years at St. John the Evangelist in Little Canada. He served at St. Edward in Bloomington before being assigned to Sacred Heart.

A memorial Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Oct. 12 at St. George, with visitation at the church starting at 10 a.m. A private burial was held Oct. 8 at German Liberal Cemetery in Medina.