Brother Damian took a particular interest in the walking trails around the abbey grounds. He built a beautiful shaded deck on the walkway over the northwest end of Lake Placid, the Abbey’s onetime reservoir, where walkers might sit of an evening, whether to spend a moment in contemplation or just to enjoy the cool breeze over the lake. But Brother Damian’s love for the outdoors was not limited to his grounds work. He was an avid outdoor chef and barbecue aficionado; he personally oversaw the construction of a movable outdoor grill wagon, which he playfully christened the Holy Smoker. He loved summer picnics, and was always ready to serve up perfectly grilled hamburgers, hotdogs or steaks for monks, seminarians and guests alike.

Though so much of his work – and much of his leisure – took him outside, Brother Damian also had talents that were manifested in indoor projects, too. He was an adept builder of architectural models. His three-foot replica of the Abbey Basilica graced the front foyer of the monastery for years, and his model of the Cathedral of Notre Dame is still displayed in the Abbey and Seminary Library, eliciting oohs and aahs of wonder from all who see it. But grand churches were not the limit of his talent in architectural model building.Brother Damian’s favorite holiday was Halloween, and his model haunted houses, complete with turrets, shuttered windows and widow’s walks, not to mention the requisite cobwebs, broken shingles and eerie interior lights, added delight and amazement to many a seminary Halloween party.

Though he never had an assignment that took him far from the Abbey’s environs, Brother Damian was nonetheless better known in the wider local community than perhaps any other of the Conception monks. This was due to his perennial and undying interest in the weather. From a childhood experience of being caught in a Kansas storm cellar as a tornado wrought havoc overhead, there grew a fascination for clouds, thunderstorms, lightning, and all the vast power and beauty they manifest. For more than thirty years Brother Damian took official recordings for the U. S. Weather Bureau in Conception; when dangerous storms threatened the area, he watched the skies while maintaining contact with emergency authorities. He became known as the Weather Monk, and wrote weather columns for local papers, as well as keeping his brother monks informed on monthly weather statistics. He even wrote a comic strip based on the weather, which he published weekly on the Seminary bulletin board. It starred the locally famous Weather Rooster, his sidekick Humpty the Weather Egg, and a cast of fiendish weather villains determined to destroy the placid life of the seminary by sending foul weather at every turn. Brother Damian himself made cameo appearances in his strip in the person of his own comical alter ego in a rumpled monastic habit, playing straight man to the antics and wisecracks of Humpty and the Rooster.

Brother Damian was an unfailingly kind person with an extraordinary gift of relating to people. Always self-deprecating, his work in God’s service was always manifested in service to others. He lived the monastic life with straightforward simplicity, integrity, and fidelity. He will be deeply missed by his brother monks, his family and his many friends. While the apparent randomness of his death leaves us shocked and saddened, we take comfort in the hope given us in the resurrection of Christ, and in the many words of prayerful concern and support expressed to us by so many people whose lives Brother Damian touched.

Brother Damian is survived by his monastic confreres, by his brother Jerry Larson and his wife Donna, of Wichita, by his sister Roseann Waller and her husband Howard, also of Wichita, and by five nephews and two nieces. At the request of his family, please send any memorial gifts to Conception Abbey, P. O. Box 501, Conception, Missouri, 64433.

Vespers of the Faithful Departed were sung at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, 13 June 2002. Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on 14 June 2002. We commend our beloved brother to your prayers.

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June 10, 2002