- ST.
NORBERT ABBEY
- DE
PERE, WISCONSIN, U.S.A.
- Rev.
Louis A. DeCleene, O. Praem.
- b. Tuesday, Apr. 4,
1893 – d. Friday, Apr. 7, 1972
Our
brother Louis Victor DeCleene was born in Rockland,
Wisconsin
in 1893, the same year the family moved to DePere. After having graduated with
honors from both high school and the
Green Bay
Business
College
, in 1912, he began study at the
United States
Military
Academy
at
West Point
as a classmate of Dwight Eisenhower. In
1913, he studied at
St.
Norbert
College
and was an instructor in the high school. “Lavee”
joined the Order in 1914 and was solemnly professed in 1918.
After
being the chaplain of the
Army
War
College
at
Catholic
University
from 1921 until 1923, he returned to the college as registrar and the following
year and was appointed director of athletics.
He received a Ph. D. in mathematics from
Catholic
University
in 1927. From 1928 until 1945 he
was circator of the abbey.
During
the summer months of the ‘30’s, “Lavee”, as he was called, instructed
the sisters at
Marian
College
in
Fond du Lac
and Alverno, during which time he was also Dean of Men at the college.
For
a short time in 1945, he succeeded Fr. Hurley as superior at Archmere before
becoming superior and principal of Southeast Catholic.
He returned to the college in 1946 as professor of accounting and
mathematics. Instructing two of the most brilliant army students while the
college was under Army contract, Lavee flunked both, one with F+, the other with
F-. He explained to an astounded
Army Colonel that these were not “flunking F’s, but therapeutic ones.”
Lavee
quit teaching in 1954 and became a chaplain in
Davenport
,
Iowa
until 1959, when he became associate pastor at St. Willibrord in
Green Bay
and temporary pastor in Lincoln,
Wisconsin. He retired to the abbey in 1970
where he died on
Friday, April 7, 1972,
at the age of 79.
