Br. Charles Henry

Thomas  Joseph Buttimer was born on June 22, 1909, in Brighton, Massachusetts, and  entered the Novitiate of the Brothers at Pocantico Hills, New York, on  September 7, 1926.  There he received  the robe and the religious name of Brother Charles Henry.  He eventually was appointed Director of  Scholastics for the New York District.   He later became the founding Visitor of the Long Island - New England  District and was appointed Assistant to the Superior General in 1961.  In 1966 he was elected Superior General,  and the Institute installed the first non-Frenchman to lead the congregation.  He served from 1966 to 1976 when he  returned to Narragansett, Rhode Island, to retire.  He died there at age seventy-three, having  been a De La Salle Christian Brother for fifty-six years.  The summer institute which studies the life  and spirituality of De La Salle is named in Brother Charles' memory and is  called the Buttimer Institute.  He died  on December 15, 1982, having been a De La Salle Christian Brother for  fifty-six years.