Br. James Athanasius

Brother Athanasius had his first encounter with the Brothers when he attended St. Patrick's High School in Chicago, Illinois, from 1938 to 1940. It was then that he made his decision to join the Brothers' life and he entered the Novitiate at Glencoe, Missouri. He took his Scholasticate training at St. Mary's College in Winona, Minnesota, and received his bachelor's degree in 1944. His first assignment took him to De La Salle High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from 1944 to 1946 when he moved to St. Mel High School in Chicago, Illinois, until 1947. He taught at Christian Brothers High School in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1947-48 and at St. Peter's High School in Jefferson City, Missouri, from 1948 to 1953. He served the District as Director of Vocations twice, once in 1953 and again in 1968, but upon completion of this assignment in 1954 he was sent as the first Principal and Director of Holy Name High School in Escanaba, Michigan, where he served until 1960. He was then assigned as Assistant Principal of St. Patrick's High School in Chicago, Illinois. He returned there to serve again from 1972 to 1977. In 1963 he was assigned by the District as first Director and Principal of Msgr. Gabriels High School in Lansing, Michigan, where he served until 1967 and again from 1969 to 1971. He taught at Driscoll Catholic High School in Addison, Illinois, from 1977 to 1979, Christian Brothers High School in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1979 to 1984 and was fully retired at Christian Brothers Center at Romeoville, Illinois in 1984 due to ill health. He died on January 28, 1985, at age sixty-three and in his forty-fifth year as a De La Salle Christian Brother.