My ancestry is German and I grew up in Celina, Ohio with my three brothers and one sister.

After graduation from Immaculate Conception High School, 18 months in the Marines, and several years’ recuperation from back pains, I realized I had no definite goals. Conscious of my sinfulness and fears, I began to pray and to seek guidance from a holy priest, Fr. Stanley Wolfer, who himself eventually entered Gethsemani and became Fr. Vianney. I had learned about the abbey from a classmate and so wrote to the abbot saying I was seeking a life of solitude and silence as a religious. He invited me to visit, and then to stay, which, by the grace of God, I have done.

Since coming to the monastery on April 11, 1949, I have been a gatekeeper, bookkeeper, assistant cellerar, prior, subprior, printer and undermaster of novices.

This is a perfect life for me, even if I have not lived it perfectly. As St. Paul summarized it, “I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal 2:20)