News

Norbertine Fr. Mayer dies

By Tony Staley
Compass Correspondent

DE PERE -- A hard-working contemplative who liked to be alone, but loved people, an artist and a self-taught lover of nature are some ways friends remember Norbertine Fr. Laurence (Larry) Mayer.

Fr. Mayer, 76, of St. Norbert Abbey, formerly of Santa Maria de la Vid Priory, Albuquerque, N.M., died of cancer Nov. 23.

As the abbey's longtime groundskeeper, Fr. Mayer designed and implemented all its landscape projects, including the courtyards and their fountains.

He was also responsible for the landscaping at Our Lady of Daylesford Abbey in Paoli, Pa., and the Albuquerque priory.

Fr. Mayer "knew the name of every plant at the abbey and anything he ever found," said Abbot Emeritus Jerry Tremel, a close friend. "He was self-taught. He read all the time, slowly, carefully and deliberately."

The two priests spent many days working together on the Norbertine's Morgan Lake property, building sleeping cabins, making repairs, installing generators and doing other projects.

"He was easy to work with," Abbot Tremel said. They enjoyed joking with each other about the proper way to do projects. "He had a good sense of humor."

"He was not afraid of heights. He would get on a roof and stand up," Abbot Tremel said. "I could do it, but my legs would be stiff and I was scared. He would wander around like he was walking on a sidewalk."

Fr. Mayer "was an early morning person who loved to be out on Morgan Lake in a canoe or looking at the mountains in Albuquerque at dawn," said Abbot Tremel, who went with him on several Boundary Water canoe trips in northern Minnesota.

Diann Wimmer of Green Bay, who frequently worships at the abbey, said she appreciated Fr. Mayer's love of the earth and all creatures and how he integrated his spirituality with nature. "He cared for the land and created a meditation garden that inspires us as we visit St. Norbert Abbey," she said.

Wimmer, who served many years as director of Worship for the Green Bay Diocese until retiring in 2006, said she also appreciated his ability to celebrate and live the liturgy and his emotional involvement with the grace and joy of the Mass.

During the summers of 1971 to 1973, Fr. Mayer took part in Arcosanti, a self-contained ecology-friendly experimental community being built about 70 miles north of Phoenix. He worked and studied there, further developing his love of nature and artistic skills under the direction of Arcosanti's founder, Paolo Soleri, an internationally known environmentalist and architect.

Fr. Mayer also studied liturgy at the Liturgisches Institute in Trier, Germany, and received a master's degree in liturgical studies from Notre Dame University in 1978. He was the abbey's liturgist and cantor from 1969 until 1985.

Norbertine Fr. Stephen Rossey, said that while they both shared an interest in liturgy, "he seemed happy when I returned to the abbey in 1984 so that he could bow out of that work."

Fr. Rossey described Fr. Mayer as "a very bright individual with very definite opinions of what was good or bad, right or wrong. He was also one of the hardest workers I had the honor of knowing. He seemed to delight in the sweat of a good day's work."

Fr. Mayer was born Sept. 6, 1931, in McGregor, Iowa, to Anton and Pearl (DuCharme) Mayer. His home parish was St. John Nepomucene, Prairie du Chien.

He graduated in 1950 from Prairie du Chien High School, and in 1959 from St. Norbert College, De Pere, where he received a bachelor's degree in English. He entered St. Norbert Abbey on Aug. 28, 1960, making simple vows on Aug. 28, 1962, and solemn vows on Aug. 28, 1965. He was ordained to the priesthood on Sept. 1, 1965.

Fr. Mayer taught at Archmere Academy, Claymont, Del., and Premontre High School, Green Bay. He served on the formation team for Norbertine novices at St. Norbert Abbey, Santa Maria de la Vid Priory, and Holy Spirit House of Studies in Chicago.

Fr. Mayer is survived by three brothers, Bernard, Maurice and John; two sisters, Mildred Sanders and Judith Krug; nieces and nephews, and the Norbertine Community. He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother, Francis.

Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Nov. 27 in the Abbey Church. Abbot Gary Neville presided at the funeral liturgy and Abbot Emeritus Jerome Tremel preached.

Burial was in St. Norbert Abbey Cemetery.