{"id":7393,"date":"2023-09-05T16:10:07","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T23:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/?p=7393"},"modified":"2023-09-05T16:10:07","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T23:10:07","slug":"bro-gerard-richard-sdb-1923-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/2023\/09\/05\/bro-gerard-richard-sdb-1923-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Bro. Gerard Richard, SDB (1923-2023)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Fr. Mike Mendl, SDB<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bro. Gerard Joseph Richard passed into eternity from Sherbrooke, Que., at 6:45 a.m. on August 31.  Since March 2019 he had been living at a Sherbrooke nursing home, Centre d\u2019hebergement Argyll.  He was a professed coadjutor brother of the Salesians of Don Bosco for 8 days less than 68 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 (May 10, 1887-December 28, 1987).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.\u00a0 He was also confirmed there in 1933.\u00a0 His parents Basile and Josephine Richard had three other sons and two daughters; Gerard was the second-born.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the oldest boy, Gerard left school at age 12 to care for the family\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 Word War II he helped build landing craft for the Canadian Army\u2014craft that were used on D-Day.  He also cut stone for the Trappists in Rogersville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 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.  Fr. Celestine Moskal was the director, and he taught Gerard some of what he knew about maintenance.  Bro. Gerard admired Fr. Moskal because Fr. Moskal was always willing to get what was needed for maintenance.  He remembered helping fix a major leak in the plumbing of the gymnasium, and he helped Fr. Moskal build the cabins at Camp Savio in West Milford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bro. Gerard went to Newton, N.J., to enter the novitiate on September 7, 1954.  Fr. Aloysius Bianchi was master of novices; he was strict but they got along.  His pre-profession evaluation described him as \u201cobedient, willing to work, self-sacrificing,\u201d and devout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After religious profession on September 8, 1955, Bro. Gerard was sent back to Paterson (1955-1959).  Feeling able to teach (given his lack of formal education), he continued his maintenance work, using \u201chis hands and his intelligence.\u201d  His vocation was tested a bit, but he persevered.  Fr. Anthony Luzzi tried unsuccessfully to lure him to Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., to supervise maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A layman named Paul Mathieu wrote his story (exactly when isn\u2019t clear); unfortunately, when this writer interviewed Brother in the nursing home in January 2020, he hadn\u2019t been able to find it among his papers.  Perhaps it will surface when the confreres sort through his personal effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201cfactotum,\u201d 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 later modified into a modest chapel; that, in turn, was demolished to make way for 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Salesian who lived and served alongside Bro. Gerard in the Haverstraw aspirantate remembers him very fondly:  \u201cIn my first two years of teaching after graduating from Don Bosco College, I was assigned to the Salesian seminary at Haverstraw, \u2026 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 \u2026 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 liked working under Fr. Maurice Petit.  He didn\u2019t have much interaction with the students, apparently not much more than showing them some of his work in his shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the usual maintenance work at the school\u2014woodwork, electrical, plumbing, outdoors jobs\u2014he did a lot of work at Camp Savio in Ste.  Catherine-de-Hatley, helping the camp\u2019s director, Fr. Christian Auger for 18 years.  Among other projects, he made park benches and cut a lot of firewood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With former Salesian 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<\/em>, and he enjoyed making wooden crosses to give as gifts and prizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the standard province personnel form used in the 1980s, he listed his preferred \u201cdisciplines\u201d as woodworking and building maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. George Harkins lived in the Sherbrooke community at different times and witnessed Bro. Gerard\u2019s skills and virtues:  \u201cFor 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 Centre d\u2019hebergement Argyll 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The confreres always highly esteemed Bro. Gerard as a model of obedience and poverty.  One anonymous American confrere wrote, \u201cHow 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.\u201d He gave \u201ctotal, generous dedication to his religious vocation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We find a fine example of his \u201cavailable obedience\u201d in a letter he wrote from Haverstraw in January 1969 to Fr. Ronald Quenneville, at that time superior of the Canadian delegation.  First, 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 \u201cthought he would be more useful at Sherbrooke,\u201d he \u201cleft it to him to decide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of Bro. Gerard\u2019s charity, nothing better can be said than what former Salesian Dr. Spencer Boudreau writes: \u201cI lived with Brother 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.<\/em>\u201d [Dr. Boudreau\u2019s emphasis]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The oldest confrere in the province now is Fr. Enzo Trigatti, 95.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral arrangements for Bro. Gerard are pending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Fr. Mike Mendl, SDB Bro. Gerard Joseph Richard passed into eternity from Sherbrooke, Que., at 6:45 a.m. on August 31.  Since March 2019 he had been living at a Sherbrooke nursing home, Centre d\u2019hebergement Argyll.  He was a professed coadjutor brother of the Salesians of Don Bosco for 8 days less than 68 years. At 100 years, 7 months, and 1 day, Bro. Gerard … Continuar leyendo Bro. Gerard Richard, SDB (1923-2023)<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":10336596,"featured_media":7399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20310044],"tags":[35890],"class_list":["post-7393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-province-news","tag-featured"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bro-gerard-richard-copy-1.jpg?fit=600%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59ePG-1Vf","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10336596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7393"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7400,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7393\/revisions\/7400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}