Br. Nicholas Tockert (1914-1997)

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Brother Nicholas came to the abbey at age fifteen, too young to enter the community and so did some high school work at Maur Hill before entering.  He did that and made his first vows March 12, 1933.  He first served in the Abbey poultry yard as assistant and as the monk-in-charge.  But in 1937 he began to work in the print shop and stayed there until 1972.  He later did upholstery work and was dedicated to recycling aluminum cans.  At the end of the academic year the college dumpsters became the source of many treasures. 

Brother Nicholas battled an addiction to alcohol for many years and found relief for over 20 years through Alcoholics Anonymous and Valley Hope Treatment Center.  After achieving some sobriety he lectured at the Center one Saturday a month.  He was quite popular in his blue suit and tie and fishnets.  As was explained in his funeral homily, “Over the years Brother Nicholas talked to literally hundreds of people… scores of people attest to the power of his recovery which touched their very early and often shaky days of sobriety.  To illustrate the fact that in recovery a hobby was a good thing to develop, he, in a show and tell gesture, brought along a fishnet or two which he had learned how to weave.  The patients frequently remembered the fishnets.  They became a symbol of recovery for so many.  He caught many with those nets.”

Br. Nicholas Tockert passed away November 26, 1997.