Our brother
Aaron Walschinski was born a twin in Green Bay
in 1935. After graduating from
Central Catholic, he joined the Order in 1954, and was solemnly professed in
1959. That same year, he began his
teaching career at St. Norbert High teaching Latin.
From 1961 through 1963, he was a lecturer in Latin, Greek and the psalms
at the abbey.
Wally was a
brilliant scholar in foreign languages. For
ten years, from 1962 through 1972, he was on the faculty of Bishop Neumann.
There he was chairman of the language department, and taught Latin,
Greek, mechanical drawing, and was art advisor to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Planning Commission. For the students, he composed a multi-language
newspaper in Latin, Greek, German, Spanish and English, did the layout and
provided his own illustrations.
In 1963, Wally
earned a Master’s in the classics from the
University
of
Wisconsin
in Madison, and began studying Hebrew. From
1966 to 68, he was an assistant at
St. John’s
in Essexville.
Starting a new
career, in 1972 through 1974, he attended Pratt Art Institute in New York, and earned a BFA in Art and Design and Art Education.
In 1974, Wally was assigned to the college, where as assistant professor
of art, he taught commercial art and was campus planner and campus photographer
through 1985.
After editing
“Apud Nos”, the community’s newsletter, in 1982, he became archivist and
librarian at the abbey.
Exhibitions of
his photography went international in 1985: Geneva, Switzerland;
Peking, China; Warsaw, Poland; Essex, England; as well as the
United States. His work also found its way into
private collections.
Struck by a
rare disease that caused severe headaches and shrunk his body, he died a painful
death on Thursday, December 7, 1989 at the age of 53.
