Prosper John Lahey, Jr. grew up in the Solomon community, graduating from a country school in Saline County in 1937 and from Solomon High School in 1941. He then attended a business school and worked for a certified public accounting firm in Abilene until he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943. During World War II, he served in the Battle of the Bulge and later with the 12th Armored Division. Following his discharge from the Army, he began a 20-year civil service career with the Air Force, working in the budget departments at Air Force bases in Salina, KS and Fairfield, CA, and then at the Headquarters of Air Defense Command in Colorado Springs. In 1961, he transferred to the comptroller's office of the Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon, where he worked as a staff analyst in the budget and programming division. While there, he enrolled as a part-time student at Catholic University of America. In 1962, he was accepted as a candidate for the priesthood in the Diocese of Salina and completed seminary at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Conception, MO. Father Lahey was ordained on May 27, 1967, in Sacred Heart Cathedral in Salina by Bishop Cyril Vogel and said his first Mass the following day in his home parish of Immaculate Conception at Solomon. Father Lahey served in various parishes in Kansas until he retired in 1999. He was an active member of the Knights of Columbus Council 1086 in Solomon, where he had been a member since 1941. He was also active in researching his family genealogy and traveled to Ireland and Australia.