- OUR
LADY OF THE ASSUMPTION ABBEY
- DAYLESFORD,
PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A.
- +
+ + + + + + + +
- IMMACULATE
CONCEPTION PRIORY
- CLAYMONT-BAYSIDE,
DELAWARE, U.S.A.
- Rev.
Justin E. Diny, O. Praem.
- b. Monday, June 17,
1912 – d. Saturday, Nov. 11, 1989
-
Our brother
Justin Diny was born in Hilbert,
Wisconsin
in 1912, was vested in 1929, professed in 1931 and ordained in
1937.
In the
year of his ordination, Justin was transferred to Archmere
Academy
where he taught chemistry, mathematics and Latin, and was prefect of discipline
and athletic director until 1944.
From 1944 through 1946, he taught the same
subjects at Central Catholic.
“Jed”
was appointed headmaster of Archmere in 1944, a position he held until 1983.
He spearheaded four major fund drives during his tenure, resulting in
Archmere’s growth and expansion. From the single Raskob Patio estate of 1932,
he added St. Norbert Hall in 1959, a new field house in 1967, the Justin
E.
Diny
Science
Center
in 1974, and a performing arts center in 1983.
During
the years 1963 to 1975, Justin was on the Board of Trustees of the Association
of Colleges and Secondary Schools, the Chairman of the Finance Committee of
Daylesford Abbey, a board member of the Directors of the
Delaware
Secondary School
Athletic Association.
He held the position of vice-president of the
Delaware
Association of Independent Schools from 1971 until 1973, when he was elected
president and served until 1975.
Long-time
faculty member and former Norbertine frat, John O’Meara, once admitted that,
“Father Diny certainly was not always the easiest man to work for.
There were many times we wished Rome had called him to be Pope. That way we
would only have had to kiss his ring!”
Contrary
to his own caution: “You can’t burn a
candle at both ends and stay stiff in the middle,” Justin guided the
Academy through good and bad times, with
steadfastness and steadiness, with diligence and duty, with calmness and
decorum, and
always with ability.
Becoming
Headmaster “Emeritus” in 1983, he
took on the job of director of development for the school.
In 1984, St.
Norbert
College
awarded him an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, for his service to
the Church in education.
A
dedicated man, with few vacillations in his daily life, Justin was a man of
convictions from which he was not easily dissuaded.
After several weeks of illness, “Mr. Archmere,” died Saturday,
November 11,
1989 at the age of 77.
