JULY 10
On this day, while his confreres were singing First Vespers of the Solemnity of St. Benedict, Brother Lawrence Goodman died in St. Bernard Providence Hospital, Milbank.
      He was born on March 6, 1907 in State Center, Iowa. His family later moved to Clark, South Dakota. Brother Lawrence attended business college in Watertown for one year and then entered St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota. After nine years as a Benedictine Brother, he returned to lay life and worked as a house painter in Mason City, Iowa and Grand Forks, North Dakota. In 1951, he came to Blue Cloud Abbey and made commitment as a claustral oblate in 1953. He was a repairman and painter here and at various times he was occupied in these trades at the missions. He was also the abbey barber and in his avocation as an artist, he was pleased to earn an income for the abbey with his paintings. A journalist, who wrote an article about Blue Cloud Abbey, described Brother Lawrence’s work as “folk art.” Some members of the community chose other words to describe it. Nevertheless, his art was in demand and he boasted of having made sales to people from every state of the union.
      Brother Lawrence was one of those characters who has earned a lasting remembrance in our monastic lore. He was a raconteur who sought out audiences among monks and visitors. Superiors sometimes warned him to clean up his act, but Brother Lawrence’s repertoire remained unaltered.
      In retirement years, he stayed tuned to the times by watching talk shows on television. His own comments about current mores were often expressed to his fellow monks and visitors. Everyone knew what he had seen on the Donahue, Sally and Oprah Shows. Most of what he had viewed, he disapproved of vehemently.
      All his life, he admired the beauty of women. The Miss American Pageant never received a poor rating from this television critic. “I have six beautiful nurses tending to me,” he reported on the 4th of July when some of the monks visited him in the hospital.
      A good part of Brother Lawrence’s life was wracked with mental suffering. Even so, he was able to break from it with a cheerful disposition and a good story. On June 24th, he fell and broke a hip. While hospitalized, cancer was diagnosed. His death, however, was not expected so soon. One day, shortly before his death, he asked the beautiful nurses to put him back to bed. They all insisted he had to be in the wheelchair a while longer. Brother Lawrence overturned the wheelchair with himself in it, and his request to go back to bed was promptly honored. May he rest in eternal peace.