Submitted by: Dan Rich

Brother Lawrence Miller CSC

Jan. 31, 1913 - June 29, 2005

South Bend Tribune 6/30/2005

Brother Lawrence (Fremont) Miller CSC, 92, died at Dujarie House, Notre Dame, Ind., on June 29, 2005, after a lengthy illness. Br. Lawrence was born in St. Wendel, Ind., on January 31, 1913, eldest of four boys and three girls, to Marcus and Bertha (Schmitt) Miller. He is survived by all his siblings: Edgar, Anita, Francis, Ruth, Eugene and Cornelia. Br. Lawrence's elementary schooling and one year of high school were completed at St. Boniface School in Evansville, Ind. Dropping out after a year in high school so he could help cover expenses for the family, Br. Lawrence studied during 1928-1929 at Lockyear's Business College, also in Evansville. After completing a one-year course, he was hired to do general office work at the Standard Plywood Corporation, where he stayed from 1930-1934.

In 1934 he entered the candidate program of the Brothers of Holy Cross in Watertown, Wis., to finish high school and begin training for the brotherhood. He received the habit of the brothers at the beginning of his novice year, 1936-1937, in Rolling Prairie, Ind., and pronounced his first vows in 1937. He made his perpetual vows in 1940 at Notre Dame, Ind., where he was studying. From 1940-1941 he was on the faculty of Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, Ind., returning to Notre Dame to complete his bachelor's degree during the 1941-1942 academic year.

Chosen to be one of the first Holy Cross brothers to earn a master's in social work, Br. Lawrence attended the University of Chicago, graduating at the end of the 1942-1943 year. He was immediately appointed Field Director for St. Charles Boys Home in Milwaukee, Wis., one of two boys' homes then administered and staffed by the brothers. In 1949, besides being Field Director at St. Charles, he was named superior of the local brothers' community there, a service he performed until 1958.

That year Br. Lawrence was appointed superior of the large brothers' community residing at Columba Hall on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind. He held that position from 1958 to 1962, his six-year term interrupted after four years so he could serve as Assistant Provincial from 1962 to 1968.Completing that demanding role - consisting largely in visiting and placing personnel for the province - Br. Lawrence once again took up social work, this time at another of the brothers' institutions for boys, Father Gibault School in Terre Haute, Ind. In 1973 he returned to his home area, Evansville, and became involved in doing psychiatric social work at the Evansville State Hospital. In 1981 he became a Home Visitor at Parkside Terrace, a retirement home in Evansville, combining that with part-time social work at the State Hospital as he continued to reside with the brothers' community at Reitz Memorial High School. Now in his early seventies and limited somewhat by his emphysema, Br. Lawrence used his keen sense of Holy Cross history and tradition to assist from 1984 to 1991 in the Archives of the Midwest Province at Notre Dame. He retired in 1991 to live at Columba Hall on the Notre Dame campus, remaining there until 1997 when his lung condition worsened and he took up residence at the brothers' infirmary, Dujarie House, at the Holy Cross Village, Notre Dame, Ind.

An exceptionally intelligent, observant and compassionate human being, Br. Lawrence's leadership talents were a perfect fit along with his professional involvement counseling troubled youngsters or older individuals facing the realities of their transition to the next life. Whether as superior of a local community or sharing freely the benefits of his sympathetic mentoring and practical help as Assistant Provincial, especially for younger brothers gaining experience as teachers, counselors and prefects, or confronting questions regarding their vocation to the religious life, he did not let his persistent battle with emphysema prevent his living a very active and effective "other professional life" as a brother, including its constant demands that he take great care lest his dedicated concern for his boys and the brothers overshadow his own obligations as a vowed religious.

Br. Lawrence's innate wisdom and common sense positively influenced many a younger religious. His persistent good humor livened many an occasion. His curiosity about life, especially the spiritual life, kept him busy reading whatever books he could lay his hands on, then engaging fellow religious and others in conversations about the content, a practice that, despite his 92 years and confinement to a wheelchair, remained a favorite pastime until the last days of his illness. His cheerfulness and love for Holy Cross and its apostolic ministries, his mentoring ... all served as a marvelous example for those whose paths intersected with his. His memory among family and community will be that of a true elder and a professional in all aspects, an incontestably exemplary religious whose sincere, straightforward, kindly and constructive critique of the Holy Cross congregation and the province of which he was a member will be sorely missed.

Visitation will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 2, in St. Joseph's Chapel, the Brothers' Holy Cross Village at Notre Dame, 54515 State Road 933. A Mass of Christian Burial will follow at 3:30 p.m. with interment immediately afterward at St. Joseph's Cemetery on the Village grounds.