Br. Lawrence Joseph

John Francis Durkin was born on January 29, 1884, the son of Joseph Bernard and Mary Jane Grady Durkin. He attended De La Salle High School in Chicago, Illinois, and entered the Juniorate from there in 1899 at age sixteen. He entered the Novitiate on January 15, 1900, where he received the habit and religious name of Brother Lawrence Joseph. He started his teaching career a short time after completing his Novitiate. Forty-four years in the classroom followed. During fifteen of these years he was Director at De La Salle, Joliet, Illinois; Cotter High School, Winona, Minnesota; and Heffron High School, Rochester, Minnesota. Brother Lawrence Joseph's teaching years were spent at Christian Brothers College, St. Louis, Missouri; Christian Brothers High School, St. Joseph, Missouri; Cathedral High School, Duluth, Minnesota; Christian Brothers College, Memphis, Tennessee; Cretin High School, St. Paul, Minnesota; De La Salle High School, Minneapolis, Minnesota; and De la Salle Academy of Kansas City, Missouri. He was a renowned mathematics teacher and held an A.B. degree from Christian Brothers College of Memphis, Tennessee, and an A.M. from the University of Notre Dame. Brother Lawrence Joseph died at age sixty-seven, having been a De La Salle Christian Brother for fifty-two years.