Fr. Felix Nolte (1880-1975)
Father Felix was 95 years old when he died. He was born in Juetzenbach, Saxony, Germany. His family later moved to Omaha, Neb. He had become a member of the Abbey at the profession of first vows July 11, 1900. He had taken his high school and college work at St. Benedict’s and continued his theological course here as well. He was ordained July 6, 1905.
A teacher of science, Father Felix earned a master’s degree in science at the University of Chicago. Felix taught continuously until 1958 at both the high school and the college. The geology course Father Felix taught was rather famous. He could be seen coming down from the Abbey to the Science Building fourth period with his black box hung over his shoulder or tramping through the hills followed by students. He usually wore a campaign hat and riding breeches for those occasions.
Almost up to the end he kept his sharp mental powers and zest for life. He was an enthusiastic member of Missouri Rockhounds in St. Joseph, Mo. He had a friend there for whom he wrote a poem, “Hail to thee, Sol Rodzitsky,” in the meter of Longfellow’s “Hiawatha.” Father Felix is reputed to have taken his first aspirin after he was 80 years of age. He was a firm believer in Father Kneippe’s Water Cures that were popular in the 1920s. He once had a foot infection and made a “soup,” probably a poultice, out of hay, soaked some rags and then wrapped the rags around the infected foot.
It worked. Father Felix was curator of the College Museum that contained some valuable Native American artifacts. Three generations of college students remembered him. His confreres will not forget him.
