Deceased Friars
Dunstan Dooling, OFM

1924 – 1995
Fr. Dunstan Dooling, OFM, was born on March 30, 1924 in Kansas City, Mo. When he was a child, his parents moved to Denver, where he received his secondary education from the Jesuits. After studying at St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary in Callicoon, N.Y., he was received into the Order in 1943, professing temporary vows one year later. Fr. Dunstan made his solemn profession in 1947 and was ordained in 1950.
Fr. Tex, as he was known, was first assigned to Brazil in 1950. After about 12 years, he went to Bolivia, where he founded the OSCAR Project, a program that taught young Bolivians how to build roads to inaccessible places so people could transport their produce to markets and thereby make contact with the outside world. Fr. Tex guided this project for many years and saw it grow in magnitude to proportions far beyond his dreams.
When Bolivia came under the care of the Province of Santa Cruz, Fr. Tex joined and remained there for the rest of his life. He went to New Guinea briefly, but returned to the Bolivian province, where he worked to establish a basic Christian community.
He died on Jan. 12, 1995 in Bolivia. Fr. Tex was 70 years old, a professed friar for 50 years and a priest for 45 years.