Br. John Michael

Hubert E. McMahon was born on October 24, 1876. His family moved to St. Paul and the McMahon boys were sent to Cathedral School which later merged into the Cretin High School. His older brother had become a Christian Brother and so he entered the Juniorate on July 2, 1890, and the Novitiate on July 18, 1892. He received the habit of the Brothers and the religious name of Brother John Michael. Upon the completion of his Scholasticate training he was assigned in January of 1894 to teach at De la Salle in Chicago, Illinois. In 1895 he was assigned to the primary department of Christian Brothers College in St. Louis, Missouri, but later that year the doctors discovered he had contracted tuberculosis and he was sent to Christian Brothers College in Memphis to teach, hoping the climate would improve his health. He caught pneumonia and after a six week recovery period, he returned to Glencoe. Brother John was sent to St. Paul for a four month vacation and he returned to De La Salle Institute a healthier young man. Once again he caught pneumonia and he returned to St. Paul, to his home, and the care of his mother and father. He died on July 30th at home and was buried in Oshkosh in the family plot. He was twenty-one years old and had been a De La Salle Christian Brother for seven years.