Brother John Joseph Nolan, a De LaSalle Christian Brother, Dies at 87

Brother John Joseph Nolan, FSC, 87, died on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at the Scallop Shell Nursing Home, in Wakefield, RI, where he had been a resident for the last 14 years. Brother John was a De LaSalle Christian Brother and a member of the Brothers Community at Christian Brothers Center, 635 Ocean Road, Narragansett, Rhode Island.

John Joseph Nolan was born in Sayre, PA, July 13, 1925 to Leo and Katherine Nolan. He attended Epiphany Grammar School in Sayre and Sayre High School. Before entering the De LaSalle Christian Brothers, John received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. He entered the De La Salle Christian Brothers on November 30,1950, at Barrytown, NY. As a Brother, he received the habit on Feb. 1 1951, pronounced his first vows on Feb. 2, 1952 and pronounced his final vows on Sept. 1, 1957.

As a young Brother, John received a Masters Degree in American History from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and later received an MA Degree in the Sacred Sciences from St. John’s University, New York. He taught in the following high schools during his career: Bishop Loughlin HS in Brooklyn, New York from 1954 to 1960, the Novitiate in Narragansett, Rhode Island from 1960 to 1962 as Sub-Director, Bishop Bradley HS, in Manchester, New Hampshire from 1962 to 1970, Montini HS in Lombardi, Illinois from 1970 to 1973, and Cretin-Durham Hall in St. Paul, Minnesota from 1973 to 1982. Brother John retired to the Brothers Community in Narragansett in 1982, volunteering where he could. He became a resident of Scallop Shell Nursing Home in 1999.

Brother John Nolan will be waked at Christian Brothers Center, 635 Ocean Road, Narragansett, on Friday, June 21  from 3-5 p.m. and from 7-9 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at Christian Brothers Center on Saturday, June 22, in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Star at 10:30 a.m with burial in the Brothers Cemetery following the mass.