Rev. Bob Camacho — a ‘people’s priest’ — dies at age 83

The Rev. Robert “Bob” Camacho, who served at several Elgin-area Catholic parishes and came from a family that’s lived in Elgin for more than 100 years, died Sunday at age 83.

“Elgin lost one of its own. He was born and raised here, and he never stopped belonging to this city,” said Rafael Villagomez, a local real estate agent who Camacho helped as he prepared to become a deacon at Elgin’s St. Joseph Catholic Church in 2022.

Camacho led several Masses at which Villagomez served, including one at St. Mary’s Church in Elgin for U.S. Army Cpl. Eriverto Ortiz, a Korean War soldier who had been missing in action for 74 years.

“Father Camacho came to the priesthood later in life, and I think that’s exactly why so many of us called him the people’s priest,” Villagomez said. “He had lived a life before the collar. He knew what it was to work, to worry, to carry things.”

According to information provided by the Rockford Diocese, Camacho was born Jan. 3, 1943, and ordained on June 23, 1979, at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rockford. He retired from active ministry June 1, 2017, but continued to fill in at many parishes and was a priest-in-residence at St. Laurence Church in Elgin.

“Even in retirement he kept saying yes. He celebrated funeral after funeral around town, standing with families on the hardest days of their lives,” Villagomez said.

Dolores Camacho said her brother always had inclinations to be a priest, but was “a humble man and for a time felt he wasn’t worthy to be one.”

After graduating from St. Edward High School in Elgin, he worked at the Joseph Spiess department store in downtown Elgin then became involved with social and migrant advocacy groups, the Illinois Office of Economic Opportunity and as a Catholic faith group leader at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, she said.

Her brother’s first assignment as a priest was at St. Therese Church in Aurora, and he would later serve at St. Nicholas and St. Mary churches in Aurora, St. Monica in Carpentersville, St. Mary in Freeport and Ss. Peter and Paul in Cary, she said. His last assignment was at St. Joseph’s in Elgin, bringing him full circle to his home parish.

Her brother was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, but that didn’t stop him from taking every phone call, hearing confessions and giving blessings, she said.

“He accepted it, and he was more calm than we were. He was consoling us,” she said.

His condition took a turn for the worse when he was hospitalized Aug. 24. He spent his final days at the Elgin home where Dolores and her husband, Salvador Camacho, live.

“While my brother was here, friends from all over stopped by to visit and frequently bringing food. It was moving and beautiful,” Dolores said.

He is also survived by another sister, Mary, his brother Mike, and their extended families.

Dan Symonds said that when he and his wife, Joy, bought what’s now Symonds-Madison Funeral Home in Elgin, and he and Camacho quickly became friends.

“He was such a kind, kind man, a great disciple of Christ and the best priest I have ever known,” Symonds said.

He recalled that Camacho would help translate information about funeral arrangements for grieving Hispanic families and made himself available to all families during their time of bereavement.

Phil Broxham of Grindstone Productions said Camacho sat for a 90-minute interview at the St. Laurence rectory last spring for Elgin History Museum’s documentary and traveling exhibit, “Nuestras Historias: Celebrando la cultura y la comunidad hispana/Our Stories: Celebrating Hispanic Culture and Community.”

“He helped fill in legacy family stories and details, and I learned that he meant so much to so many people,” Broxham said.

In the documentary, Camacho recalled how his grandmother, Pasquala Pompa, brought her family to Elgin 100 years ago. His father joined them, “riding the rails” in 1928 to get there, and found work at the Woodruff and Edwards foundry, where he unexpectedly reunited with his long-lost best friend, something Camacho described as “a miracle.”

The family initially lived on Dexter Street near Elgin’s downtown, and St. Joseph’s Church became central to their lives and those of the city’s Hispanic residents, Camacho said.

Connie (Barbosa) Zapata recalled that Camacho was always interested in Mexican culture. Zapata’s parents settled in Elgin in 1957 and knew the Camacho family through St. Joseph’s, where Zapata remains a parishioner.

“The Camachos were a very welcoming family who would do what they could to help others,” Zapata said.

Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, Camacho never said no to those needing a priest for a funeral service or to anoint the sick, Zapata said.

“He was loved by a lot of folks,” she said.

Visitation for Camacho will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3, at St. Laurence Catholic Church, 225 Jewett St., Elgin, and 10 to 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 4, prior to a funeral Mass. Burial will follow at Mount Hope Cemetery, 1001 Villa St., Elgin. Arrangements are being handled by the Laird Funeral Home in Elgin.

Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The (Elgin) Courier-News.