Father Frank Timar had just finished eighth grade when he began his path to the priesthood, moving 800 miles from his family home in Pennsylvania to a seminary in Geneva, Ill.

“My mother wasn’t too happy about that,” Timar said. “She thought she’d need to supervise me.”

On Jan. 4, Timar will celebrate his 23rd anniversary with the St. Mary’s of Sycamore parish of 1,250 families, and on Jan. 10 he will retire as the parish’s priest after administering thousands of sacraments and watching hundreds of children from the church and its affiliated school grow to adulthood.