On the eve of the longest night of the year, our Br. Conrad passed from this world to the next.
Br. Conrad Fleischmann was born on the cusp of the Great Depression, on the 7th of April, 1929, in Owensboro, Kentucky. His family suffered because of the depression, losing their farm and reduced to working as sharecroppers. Br. Conrad was no stranger to hard work from his earliest age. He entered Gethsemani on the 7th of October 1957 as a laybrother and was simply professed on the 18th of April, 1960 and solemnly professed on the 26th of January 1966. He was 96 years old when he died.
He worked nearly every job a monk of Gethsemani could have – interior cellarer, head cheese maker, farm boss, etc., but he was always most comfortable out on the land and served as land manager up until just a year or so ago. Even when he had trouble getting around, he would manage to hoist himself into the Kubota and drive out to the woods and direct the novices in one task or another. When he went to the hospital for a procedure not long ago, the nurse asked him what he did, and he told her that he worked in the woods. She nodded politely and later asked Fr. Elias, who was with him, what he actually did, and Fr. Elias said, “Yep, he works in the woods.” He loved Gethsemani and he loved the land.
Br. Conrad loved the community and was well-loved and respected by the community, but his influence extended far beyond the borders of Gethsemani He was extremely outgoing and made close friends with countless neighbours and visitors. To many people, he was the face of Gethsemani, our ambassador to the world.
Br. Conrad thoroughly enjoyed life and loved to joke around (as some of these photos show – when we got our new dishwasher, back in the ’80’s, he climbed inside to show that even he could be washed clean). His good humor and willingness to help in whatever way he could was an inspiration to us all. He will be sorely missed, but we are confident that he continues to enjoy life even more where he is now.
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