The Journey Begins With One Cimpl Step!

The Journey Begins With One Cimpl Step!

Fr. Charles (Chuck) Cimpl grew up in Tabor, a small town near Yankton, SD. His grandfather immigrated from the former Czechoslovakia when he was 17 years old with a dream and a sausage recipe. He started selling sausages in small locations, eventually consolidating those into Cimpl Meats in Yankton, SD. The plant employed approximately 130 people and Fr. Cimpl worked in the plant during the summer while he was in college. His uncle Laddie Cimpl, who is also his Godfather, was president of the packing plant and wondered if Chuck would one day be interested in being part of the Cimpl Packing Plant family. As it turned out, Chuck had other interests.

Fr. Cimpl attended a small Catholic grade school in Tabor that went from first to eighth grade and was taught by the Benedictine Sisters from Yankton. “At that time, I really wanted to be in politics or a senator,” said Fr. Cimpl.

In 1965, Fr. Cimpl attended the World’s Fair in New York with his family. He met a number of children from various states and around the world. He appreciated his Catholic education in grade school and he and his parents were hoping he could attend a Catholic high school. Upon return, Fr. Cimpl’s family considered O’Gorman High School and, unfortunately, learned they were not accepting additional enrollments. He soon learned he could join the minor seminary, located in the current O’Gorman Junior High building. There were a number of eight graders from around the Diocese attending an informational session on the seminary. Fr. Cimpl was soon discouraged when Fr. Al Krzyzopolski and Msgr. Andraschko asked, “How many of you like tv, radio or girls?” in an attempt to dissuade those who truly didn’t want to attend seminary. Fr. Cimpl returned to Tabor that same night to explore other options.

Fr. Cimpl’s family had a cousin attending Notre Dame High School in Mitchell, which was run by the Presentation Sisters. He was interested in attending school there, but no dorms were available. A priest friend of the family put a housing ad in the bulletin for Fr. Cimpl. A parishioner offered her basement apartment to Fr. Cimpl and he moved in.

“There was no school lunch or cafeteria. The building was bad, but the sisters all had master’s degrees and they were great teachers,” recalls Fr. Cimpl. “When I was a junior at Notre Dame, the school ran out of money and they were going to close. A bunch of kids went to the school board to see how much money they needed to keep it open. The school board told them they needed $40,000.”

One of the students in Fr. Cimpl’s class had a dad that owned a car dealership. He donated a pickup for them to auction off. In one night, the students canvased all of Mitchell, sold raffle tickets at $1 per ticket and came up with $42,000. The school board kept the school open for one more year, but informed the students that was the best they could do. The school closed after Fr. Cimpl graduated that year.

Upon graduation, Fr. Cimpl planned to attend college at Creighton University to purse a law degree. However, Fr. Bream approached him and asked if he’d ever thought abought being a priest. Fr. Cimpl had said no at the time, but it stuck in his head. As Fr. Cimpl continued to ponder the idea he rejected only four years earlier, Fr. Bream drove him to Sioux Falls to meet with Bishop Hoch who encouraged him to try the seminary before he went off to Creighton. Fr. Cimpl decided to enroll at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, MN, in the fall of 1970.

In 1977, Fr. Cimpl was assigned to St. Mary’s in Dell Rapids as a transitional deacon where he worked as a substitute for a religion teacher who was on maternity leave. Fr. Cimpl had no teaching experience, but decided to help out and loved it. After he was ordained in 1978, Bishop Hoch assigned him to O’Gorman High School as a full-time teacher. Fr. Cimpl taught six classes a day for 11 years. For seven years, he lived in the business offices at the high school prior to the renovation. He was then moved to the current band room of the junior high where he lived for an additional two years.

He has fond memories of Sunday nights at the school. Fr. Cimpl recalled, “The kids would need books to get their homework done, so I would open the school for them and have kids and families hanging out until 10:00 pm.”

While at O’Gorman, Fr. Cimpl had many roles. He was a teacher, assistant to the principal, development staff member, chaplain for nine years and a member of the school board—even serving as president in 1984. “I also ran the cheerleading program for a year and that was a complete disaster! Every time there was a job that no one else wanted to do, I usually took it on,” he laughed.

Fr. Cimpl went from O’Gorman to SDSU where he was the Newman Director from 1989 until 1994. After that, he was pastor for St. Therese, St. Michael and most recently Holy Spirit. When asked if he had a favorite, he said, “I definitely could have stayed at O’Gorman, but I knew that wasn’t possible. SDSU was probably the easiest because it had its own funding and it was fun to be around the college students. I remember thinking, ‘I bet this job isn’t going to last because it was almost too good to be true.’”

He remembers Bob Burns, coach and founder of the Dakota Bowl, saying, “We can’t think of ourselves as being little, we need to think of ourselves as being the best!” Bob would inspire the faculty and get them motivated by telling them we don’t have to have the best stadium, buses or equipment. We just have to be better than everyone else and that stuck with Fr. Cimpl and the rest of the faculty.

Fr. Cimpl recently reitired after 44 years in the priesthood. He is enjoying his new downtown loft, which overlooks Falls Park. He would love to help those in need and maybe come back to Bishop O’Gorman Catholic Schools. He will be going on a pilgrimage next summer to France, Spain and Portugal. He is looking forward to traveling and would love to see Australia and China! Fr. Cimpl has been a beloved priest for many years and we wish him blessings on his retirement.

Fr. Cimpl loved singing and playing his guitar “PB” for many of our students. To watch a special video message from Fr. Cimpl as well as him singing a few of those favorite tunes he played for the kids, go to: https://vimeo.com/725707432