Skip to main content

Marist All: Brother Larry Hanshumaker Obituary

Media

Part of Marist All: Brother Larry Hanshumaker Obituary

content

7/6/2021
Eulogy for
https://academic2.marist.edu/foy/maristsall/obits/larryhanshumaker.html
1/2

(1926 - February 4, 2000)
Brother Lawrence Hanshumaker was born Robert Hanshumaker in South
Wheeling in 1926. He left Wheeling's Central Catholic High School at the end of
his junior year to enter the postulancy in Poughkeepsie as a high school senior. He
took the Marist habit on July 26th, 1942. After his novice year, Larry did two years
of college studies at Marist Training School, the forerunner of Marist College, after
which he was assigned to cook at the Marist juniorate in Tyngsboro. He completed
his bachelor's degree during his first few years of teaching.
Brother Larry's teaching career began at St. Ann's Academy; where, along with his
other many students, he taught Richard Foy the fundamentals of electricity,
electronics and photography.
Together, Larry and
Richard took courses in
mathematics at St. John's
University .
David Kammer, who
together with Larry left
Wheeling for the Novitiate,
was also a teacher at St.
Ann's Academy during
Brother Larry' s tenure
there.
Brother Hanshumaker
transferred to teaching at
Cardinal Hayes High
School in New York City. In
1957-1958, Richard Foy
soon followed him to
Cardinal Hayes.
Brother "Hans" had set up
a ham radio in the attic of
the Brothers' residence and invited Richard to be a member of his "wireless" club.
The reception for the ham radio was excellent, but because of the lack of heat and
little ventilation in the attic, both Brother "Hans" and Richard froze in the winter and
sweated in the summer. The ham radio also played havoc with New York Governor
Harriman's TV set which was housed across the street from the residence.
Brother Joseph Belanger, who also taught with "Hans" at Cardinal Hayes
remembers, "He always had a twinkle in his eyes and a fine sense of humor as he
was on the verge of opening your eyes to the beauties of math and science."
In 1965, Richard Foy the second President of Marist College invited Brother Larry
to help program the IBM 1401 main frame which hadbeen acquired by Marist


7/6/2021
Eulogy for
https://academic2.marist.edu/foy/maristsall/obits/larryhanshumaker.html
2/2
College. With a group of similar minded Brothers, Brother Larry had a wonderful
time, that summer, introducing new programs into the mainframe.
From Cardinal Hayes, Brother Hanshumaker traveled to Chicago to continue his
teaching journey.
Near retirement, Brother Larry took charge of the computer labs at Our Lady of
Lourdes school in Pougkeepsie, New York.
Richard Foy remembers Brother "Hans" as an excellent teacher who had great
rapport with his students, a brilliant computer programmer and a "great guy."