After 49 years, gregarious Father Naus no longer at Marquette

Clasp your hands together, interlocking your fingers. Point your thumbs down.

Greet Father John Naus this way, and he'll begin "milking" your thumbs like an udder, a gesture he calls the Wisconsin handshake.

It's this silliness and sly humor that have made the 88-year-old priest perhaps the best known and most beloved Jesuit at Marquette for the past 49 years, former University President Father Robert Wild said Tuesday at a celebration for Naus.

Classes began at Marquette this week without Naus for the first time in nearly five decades after he announced his retirement this summer. He was ordained a priest at Gesu Church in 1955 and served the university in academic, administrative and ministerial capacities for nearly five decades.

The fun-loving Naus relished being the center of attention, making his electric scooter do tricks for students en route to class.

Naus contracted polio as a child and has used a wheelchair since he suffered a stroke in 2004. Since then, he has made daily trips to campus from St. Camillus nursing home in Wauwatosa, where he resides.

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