Br. Herman Basil

Joseph Francis Wunderlich was born on January 18, 1899, one of seven children and the son of Joseph Francis and Angeline Busch Wunderlich, in Winona, Minnesota. Joseph attended Cotter High School in Winona and upon graduation in 1916 he entered the Novitiate in Glencoe where, in March 1919, he received the habit and received the religious name of Brother Herman Basil. He completed his Novitiate and Scholasticate year and was assigned to De La Salle Institute in Chicago, Illinois, where he continued his studies at DePaul University, taught classes and founded the school band. He received his Ph.B. from DePaul in 1925 and his B.A. Degree from Loyola University in 1926. One year later, 1927, he received his B.S. in Music from the Connecticut National School of Music. Brother Basil was appointed Director of De La Salle High School in Joliet, Illinois, in 1930 and Director of De La Salle Institute in Chicago, Illinois, three years later in 1933. In 1940 he was transferred to Boys Town, Nebraska, as Director and that same year earned his M.A. degree from Loyola University. Four years later, in 1944, he was appointed Director of St. Patrick Academy in Chicago and in 1947 he was made Director of St. Mel High School in the same city. He was appointed Director of Novices in 1952 and La Salle High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1953. One year later he was assigned to De La Salle Institute in Chicago where he founded the Christian Brothers Boys Association. Brother Basil remained at De la Salle for seven years before being assigned to St. Francis High School in Wheaton, Illinois, where he taught until 1963 before returning to De La Salle in Chicago where he died in 1970 of a heart attack at age seventy-one, having been a De La Salle Christian Brother for forty-nine years.
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