Bro. Gerard Richard, SDB (1923-2023)
Bro. Gerard Joseph Richard passed into eternity from Sherbrooke, Que., on the morning of August 31. Since March 2019 he had been living at a Sherbrooke nursing home. He was a professed coadjutor brother of the Salesians of Don Bosco just short of 68 years.
At 100 years, 7 months, and 1 day, Bro. Gerard
fell 17 days short of matching Bro. Frank Gambaro as the longest-lived confrere
in the history of the New Rochelle Province: 100 years, 7 months, and 18 days.
Gerard Richard was born at St.-Louis-de-Kent, N.B., on
January 30, 1923, and was baptized in the parish church (St. Louis) two days
later. He was also confirmed there in
1933. His parents Basile and Josephine
Richard had three other sons and two daughters; Gerard was the second-born.
As the oldest boy, Gerard left school at
age 12 to care for the family’s livestock when his father was no longer able to
work because of illness. Gerard had
completed just five years of schooling, and he always felt some insecurity from
his lack of education. It was a proud
day for him when he earned a high school equivalency diploma in New Rochelle in
1974.
As a young man he did some building work in
St. Louis de Kent and worked in a logging camp in the woods, where he learned
some of his mechanical and electrical skills.
During World War II he helped build landing craft for the Canadian
Army—craft that were used on D-Day. He
also cut stone for the Trappists in Rogersville.
Gerard worked to pay for the studies of his
youngest brother, Arsene, who became a priest and, eventually, bishop of
Bathurst, N.B. Bishop Arsene died of
cancer in 1989 at age 53. Gerard spent
some six months with him until he passed away.
When the Salesians came to St. Louis de
Kent to open a boarding school in 1950, Gerard was working for the Sisters of
Notre Dame across the road. The SDB director
invited him to consider becoming a brother, and eventually he agreed to try it. At age 30 he went to Don Bosco Tech in Paterson,
N.J., in September 1953. He was hoping
for a chance to continue his education, but instead the superiors tasked him
with many maintenance chores, which he was very good at: electricity, plumbing, carpentry, locks; and
he had the full support of the school’s director, Fr. Celestine Moskal. Among other work, he helped Fr. Moskal build
the cabins at Camp Savio in West Milford, N.J.
Bro. Gerard went to Newton, N.J., to enter
the novitiate in September 1954. His
pre-profession evaluation described him as “obedient, willing to work,
self-sacrificing,” and devout.
Quite simply, Bro. Gerard stated in his
applications for vows that the relied on the grace of God and the help of our
Blessed Mother Mary to fulfill his duties and to work for the good of his soul
and for the good of others. He did all
that faithfully for nearly 68 years.
After religious profession on September 8,
1955, Bro. Gerard was sent back to Paterson (1955-1959). Feeling unable to teach (given his lack of
formal education), he continued his maintenance work, using “his hands and his
intelligence,” and he persevered thru vocational challenges.
In 1959 he was recalled to Canada, serving
two years at Seminaire Don Bosco, the minor seminary in Boucherville, Que., and
then a year at the Don Bosco School, a middle school in Jacquet River, N.B.,
where the Salesians also served St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish. He made his perpetual profession on August
26, 1961, at St. Louis de Kent.
In 1962 Bro. Gerard was assigned to the
juniorate for coadjutor aspirants at Haverstraw, N.Y., where he remained for
seven years, doing maintenance work alongside Bro. Richard Pasaik. At this point in his curriculum vitae, he
generally calls his assignments “factotum,” whereas earlier he described
himself as maintenance and repairman. At
Haverstraw his work included a great deal of grounds maintenance on the
extensive property, e.g., caring for the statues and the rest of the Rosary Way
and rebuilding the swimming pool. He
worked with the province architect, Bro. Fiore DaRoit, to build the original
Shrine pavilion (which was eventually replaced by the grand chapel designed by Bro.
Andy LaCombe). In 1968 he was certified
as a locksmith by the Locksmith Institute of Little Falls, N.J.
A Salesian who lived and served alongside
Bro. Gerard in Haverstraw remembers him very fondly: “In my first two years of teaching after
graduating from Don Bosco College, I was assigned to the Salesian seminary at Haverstraw,
… a technical high school with various shops, such as printing,
woodworking, auto mechanics, machine shop, etc.
One of the good brothers was Bro. Gerard Richard. When he found out I was intending to start an
amateur radio club … and give them some practice in transmitting and
receiving, he volunteered to build me an antenna. . . . He graciously not only built the antenna to
specifications, but also kindly went on the roof and installed it for me. He was also a very patient, soft-spoken,
friendly Brother to the boys, and they admired him very much.”
Bro. Gerard came to Seminaire Salesien in
Sherbrooke for the first time in 1969; this was the relocated Seminaire Don
Bosco, formerly in Boucherville, and in time it evolved into the large co-ed
high school now known as Le Salesien. He
remained in Sherbrooke until 1985 except for one year (1973-1974) in New
Rochelle, where he earned his high school diploma and worked with Bros. DaRoit
and LaCombe. At Sherbrooke, he didn’t
have much interaction with the students, apparently not much more than showing
them some of his work in his shop.
In addition to the usual maintenance work
at the school—woodwork, electrical, plumbing, outdoors jobs—he did a lot of
work at Camp Savio in Ste. Catherine-de-Hatley.
Among other projects, he made park benches and cut a lot of firewood.
With former SDB Gilles Lefevre, with whom
he maintained a strong friendship for many years, Bro. Gerard took a
correspondence course in electronics with Teccart of Montreal, and they even
built a TV. He also got certified in
electrical appliances through a correspondence program based in Washington, D.C. He taught himself to make various kinds of
little wooden puzzles, using plans he found in Popular Mechanics, and he
enjoyed making wooden crosses to give as gifts and prizes.
Fr. George Harkins lived in the Sherbrooke community at different times and witnessed Bro. Gerard’s skills and virtues: “For me he was the living image of St. Joseph, humble, serene, a most competent worker at any trade. At times I would tell people that God created Bro. Gerard, and he created everything else. Even if he did not have the tool to work with, he would make the tool he needed. He will be greatly missed. He was also a model of both the vow and the virtue of poverty. He now walks in the Salesian Garden.”
In 1985 Bro. Gerard was assigned again to
Jacquet River. The Don Bosco School had
been closed in 1972 due to lack of enrollment; the local population was just
too impoverished to sustain it, Bro. Gerard stated. But the Salesians still served St. Gabriel
Parish, and Brother assisted there in various ways.
In 1989 Bro. Gerard came back to Sherbrooke
and remained there for the rest of his life.
His declining physical condition after he fell and broke a hip in
January 2019 necessitated his entering the nursing home in March. The confreres of his community visited him faithfully,
bringing him the Eucharist every day. Gilles
Lefevre also was a frequent visitor. Brother
was able to visit the Salesian residence now and then, including for a big
100th birthday celebration, which the provincial, Fr. Tim Zak, also attended.
In 1972 Bro. Gerard was privileged to
attend the beatification of Blessed Michael Rua in Rome. He seems to have thought that was one of the
highlights of his life.
The confreres highly esteemed Bro. Gerard
as a model of obedience and poverty. One
anonymous American confrere wrote, “How impressive and truly edifying to recall
his humble simplicity, his zealous dedication.
His life is truly exemplary in work and temperance, in zeal for souls,
poverty, chastity and available obedience.” He gave “total, generous dedication to his
religious vocation.”
We find a fine example of his “available
obedience” in a letter he wrote from Haverstraw in January 1969 to the superior
of the SDB Canadian delegation. 1st, Bro.
Gerard apologized for missing an end-of-year assembly of the confreres because
he had the flu. Then he expressed his
hope of returning to Canada, preferring an assignment at Jacquet River, but if
the superior “thought he would be more useful at Sherbrooke,” he “left it to
him to decide.”
Of Bro. Gerard’s charity, nothing better
can be said than what former SDB Dr. Spencer Boudreau writes: “I lived with Bro.
Gerard in community and [afterward] saw him on many occasions. He was always sincerely happy to see a fellow
Acadian. [My wife] Susan and I were
privileged to attend his 100th birthday celebration and witness the testimony
of his family members on the exemplary, supportive role he played in their
lives. I still have a beautiful cutting
board (in the shape of a pig) that he made Susan and me for our wedding present. It was too nice to use as a cutting board, so
it has hung on the wall in our kitchen since.
I never, ever, in all the many the years I have known him, heard him
say a negative word about anyone. Ever. I also never heard him complain about
anything. He was dedicated to his
vocation and to his community. If
Brother Gerard is not with the Lord, there is no hope for any of us.” [Dr.
Boudreau’s emphasis]
Photos by Fr. Alain Leonard, SDB
Program for Bro. Gerard's
funeral:
* Thursday, September 7:
7-9 p.m.: Sympathies at
Steve Elkas Inc. Funeral Home
4230 rue Bertrand-Fabi,
Sherbrooke
* Friday September 8:
- 11:00 a.m.: Funeral
Mass in the Church of Saint Jean Garnier
3110 Charles Hamel
Street, Sherbrooke
The following week, Bro. Gerard will be transported to New Brunswick.
* Thursday, September 14
- 11:00 a.m.: Funeral mass in the Church of Saint Louis de Kent, followed by burial in the parish cemetery.
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