The Reverend Arthur A. LeMay served as an Assistant Pastor at St. Mary’s Parish from 1914 to 1917 and then again for a brief period in February 1921.  During World War I, LeMay joined the United States Army and was commissioned as a First Lieutenant, Chaplain on February 6, 1918 and was assigned to the 148^th Machine Gun Battalion.  According to military records, he was recommended for the position by the Rev. Lewis J. O’Hern and Thomas F. Hickey, Bishop of Rochester.

            Rev. LeMay was born on December 7, 1887 in Watertown, New York, the son of Napoleon and Anna (McGoldrick) LeMay.  His father was a native of Montreal and his mother was born in Ireland.  He was educated at St. Mary’s School in Rochester, Ovid High School in Ovid, New York and St. Andrew’s College in Rochester (1902-1908).  He received his theological training at St. Bernard’s Seminary (1908-1914) and was ordained by the Most Reverend Thomas F. Hickey of Rochester on June 6, 1914.  Prior to his ordination he played semi-professional and professional baseball in the Rochester area.

            Just one week after he was commissioned in the Army, Rev. LeMay sailed for France.   While enroute he was injured and was returned to the United States for hospitalization.  He returned to France with the 64^th Infantry Regiment of the Seventh Army Division.  Chaplain LeMay took part in the battles of St. Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.  In the latter battle, on November 7, 1918, Rev. LeMay was disabled by gas and hospitalized once again.  He was awarded the Silver Star for “Gallantry in Action” and the Purple Heart, on account of his wounds.

LeMay is mentioned several times in the book, The Greater Love (1920) by Chaplain George T. McCarthy, who also served with the Seventh Division.  It is apparent from the references that LeMay was well regarded as a combat chaplain by both Chaplain McCarthy and the soldiers of the Seventh Division.

LeMay was discharged on account of disability from the Army on April 19, 1919 while at the U.S. Military Hospital in Oswego, N.Y.  He spent three years in Army hospitals because of the injuries he suffered in France.  He was appointed Catholic Chaplain, to the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home at Bath, New York on July 12, 1922.  That same year, Rev. LeMay was selected to serve as Chaplain to the New York Department of the American Legion and served in that capacity from 1923 to 1924.  He was also Chaplain of the Disabled American Veterans for 17 years.   He retired on June 30, 1953 after serving thirty-one years as Chaplain at the Bath Veterans Administration Center.

Rev. LeMay died on March 30, 1955.  His obituary indicated that he was “a beloved priest of the Catholic Diocese of Rochester… and a spiritual advisor to countless thousands of veterans who had been patients at the Veterans Hospital or members of the Center, as well as a friend to many members of the Catholic faith and other religions.”  He was buried in the family plot at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Rochester.