Fr. Bertrand LaNoue (1927-2013)

“Is my head on straight?” was not an uncommon question coming from Father Bertrand in his last months living in the Abbey infirmary. Always a sunny disposition he was never afraid to ask for help.

Born October 18, 1927, and baptized Elric, he was the youngest of six boys growing up in Aurora, Kan.  Interrupting his studies at St. Benedict’s College to enter the novitiate, he received the name Bertrand.  He professed vows on July 11, 1946, and was ordained on May 22, 1952. 

Father Bertrand earned advanced degrees in economics at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and St. Louis University.  A tough professor, he desired to see his students succeed and ushered them in gentle ways toward truth and the good that was in them.  He developed relationships with his students, who with his help and mentoring, took on important jobs and careers in government, academia and business. Father Bertrand had his own economy of life teaching beyond the academic curriculum – he emphasized lessons about life: work hard, pray often, take care of your family, and enjoy life to the fullest.

Upon retirement from the college in 1998, he took on pastoral duties at St. Joseph and St. Patrick churches in Atchison.  Father Bertrand returned to the Abbey in 2010 and was constant in his participation in both liturgy and community life. 

He enjoyed the attention of the monks in formation and often found ways to keep them busy.  Father Bertrand was quiet in many ways, so it came as no great surprise when he passed away quietly in his sleep on the evening of November 16, 2013.