- ST.
NORBERT ABBEY
- DE
PERE, WISCONSIN, U.S.A.
- Brother
Siard W. Ryan, O. Praem.
- b.
Sunday, June 2, 1895 – d. Sunday, Aug. 14, 1966
Our
brother Siard Ryan was born in Kenosha,
Wisconsin
in 1895. He joined the
United States
Army in 1913, and did boot camp at
Fort
Leavenworth
and Fort
Meade. In 1919, “Bill” was discharged
as a member of the Signal Corps.
After
working for 11 years, Bill tried the Jesuit novitiate in Florissant,
Missouri, before beginning the postulancy for the Order in 1932.
He was vested in 1933 and solemnly professed in 1938.
From
1940 to 1942, Siard was cook at the novitiate in Madison
and he spent from 1942 until 1946, cooking at Southeast Catholic.
He then returned to the old abbey, helping in the kitchen and doing
manual labor. He remained in what
was to become the college priory after the move to the new abbey.
Siard loved movies, often spending his entire two-week vacation in
theatres viewing one movie after another. He
had an almost miraculous memory about films. He
could name the
Hollywood
stars in all of the classics, as well as describe the plot and critique the
movie’s worth. Siard died Sunday,
August 14th 1966, at the age of 71.
