Br. Joel Nicholas

Norman  George Geimer was one of six sons of Nicholas and Violet (Rundgren)  Geimer.  He attended St. Timothy grade  school and St. George High School in Evanston before entering the Juniorate  in 1946. He graduated from La Salle Institute, Glencoe, Missouri, and then  entered the Novitiate there in the same year, 1946, receiving the habit of  the Brothers and the religious name of Brother Joel Nicholas. In 1950 he  completed a BA degree at St. Mary’s College, Winona, Minnesota with a  concentration in Latin and was then assigned to Christian Brothers College  High School in St. Louis, Missouri in 1950.   He taught at St. Mel High School in Chicago from 1951-1954 before  going to Escanaba, Michigan to teach at Holy Name High School, a  co-institutional. Possessing a talent for woodworking, Brother Nick studied  industrial arts at Stout University in Wisconsin and completed a MA degree in  this field at the University of Minnesota.   After four years in Escanaba, Brother Nick returned to Chicago to  teach industrial arts at St. Patrick High School.  After two years in Chicago, he returned to  the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to work at Holy Name High School again.  Brother Nick served as principal of the boys’ section and was community  director during this six-year assignment at Holy Name. Stevens Point,  Wisconsin, was his next assignment where he taught industrial arts at Pacelli  High School from 1966-1977.  During  this time, he relocated the industrial arts area at Pacelli High School,  served as principal, and business manager.   Brother Nick’s first missionary assignment took him to Nicaragua in  the Atlantic Costal town of Puerto Cabezas, where he worked with Brother  James Miller.  During these six years  Brother Nick established a woodworking shop at the school for instructional  purposes as well as a place for making classroom, office, and auditorium  equipment.  He also ran a printing  press, made wooden toys, and other custom projects for the local people.  After ending his time in Nicaragua, Brother  Nick returned to Pacelli High School in Stevens Point for a brief period  (1983-1985) when he was asked to work at Sangre de Cristo retreat center near  Santa Fe, New Mexico.  His main work at  the center was in maintenance of the buildings and grounds.  At this same time, he earned a Master’s of  Pastoral Studies degree at Loyola University in Chicago which helped him with  his work with the retreatants. After ten years at Sangre (1985-1995) Brother  Nick answered a request to help with the formation program in the Lwanga  District of Africa (1995-2002).  He  took care of the temporalities for the novitiate, Scholasticate, and  provincialate as well as supervising the construction of a new novitiate  building.  He returned to the Midwest  District and briefly offered his services at Dunrovin Retreat Center at  Marine on the St. Croix, Minnesota, before moving to De La Salle High School  in Minneapolis. At De La Salle Brother Nick set up a carpentry shop and for  fifteen years built and repaired many pieces of furniture for the school.  He also did custom work for faculty and  friends.  A very talented artisan in  carpentry, weaving, cross stitch and needlepoint, Brother Nick taught others  in these disciplines as well as producing many works that remain in the  schools and communities where he resided. Brother Nick also spent time  helping in places like Alaska, Crookston, MN, Winona, MN, and Browning  Mt.  In t017 Brother Nick moved to  Chicago’s St. Paul’s House where he died on December 28^th from complications with pneumonia.  Brother Nick Geimer had been a De La Salle  Christian Brother for 70 years.