Father James E. Shappelle, pastor emeritus of several Cincinnati-area parishes, died last night. He was 91. 

Father Shappelle grew up in Cincinnati’s Holy Family parish. He attended St. Gregory’s and Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, and was ordained a priest in 1948.

In a 2004 interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer, when he was at St. Bernard Church in Cincinnati’s Spring Grove Village neighborhood, Father Shappelle  recalled that “I’d just turned 14 when I entered the seminary. I didn’t have a whole lot of expectations or goals. The priesthood was a very respectable life for a boy to have. We admired the priests. We looked up to them.”

He said of his vocation: “It was a good choice, and I have no regrets. I’ve never thought of being anything other than a priest.”

Over his long clerical life, Father Shappelle served parishes including All Saints, Mother of Christ, St. Anthony, St. Bernard, and St. Leo. Other posts included a faculty position at the seminary and the Archdiocesan school office. In recent years he served on the Presbyteral Council.

Funeral arrangements are pending.