Obituary-Brother Bernard Flood

(March 15, 1916 - July 22, 1994)

by Richard Foy

Brother Bernard Flood, 78, of the Archbishop Molloy Community, Queens, NY, a long-time Marist, national and state Catholic educational leader, passed away on Friday July 22, at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Queens. Family members, collegauges, and Brothers gathered for prayer and the Mass of Resurrection at Our Lady of Merch Church, Forest Hills on Monday July 25. Brothers John Klein and John Alexis led a burial service in Esopus that afternoon.

The preceding notice appeared in the August 1994 Newsnotes of the Poughkeepsie Province. The following more extensive obituary was printed in the Advent 1994 issue of Today's Marist Brother.

Brother Bernard G. Flood, fms died on July 22 at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Queens, NY. At the time of his death he was residing at the Archbishop Molloy H.S. community, Briarwood, NY. The Mass of the Resurrection was calebrated at Our Lady of Mercy Church, Forest Hills, NY.

A native of New York City, he was born on March 15, 1916. His parents were Cornelius J. Flood and Margretta Pauli. He received the Sacrament of Baptism at St. Patrick's Cathedral, NY. His early school days were an introduction to the Marist Brothers. He attended St. Ann's Academy for 3 years and St. Agnes School for 4 years. His continuing high school work was the Juniorate at St. Joseph's, Tyngsboro, MA. He followed the Novitiate program at St. Ann's Hermitage, Poughkeepsie, NY taking first vows in 1939. College degree work was done at the Marist Training School (Marist College) Poughkeepsie, Fordham College and Columbia Teachers College, New York City.

Brother Bernard began his teaching career in 1936 in the elementary department of Mount St. Michael Academy, Bronx NY. He also taught at St. Ann's Academy, New York City; Central Catholic H.S. Lawrence, MA; Cardinal Hayes H.lS., Bronx NY; Marmion Military Academy, Aurora, IL and St. Helena H.S.(Monsignor Scanlan H.S.), Bronx NY. There were positions of responsibilities as the Director/Principal of St. Mary's H.S., Manhasset NY, and Central Catholic H.S., Wheeling WVA. He was in Switzerland in 1961 for the purpose of establishing a school which plans were never finalized. He served as the Direction of Education for the Marist Brothers in the late '50s and '60s. Marist College, Poughkeepsie Ny provided him with the opportunity to direct their teacher training program. Brother Bernard was the Associate Diocesan Superintendent of Schools in Birmingham AL. In the late '70s he served as the Executive Director for the New York State Catholic Schools. He finalized his active years by filling the roles of Director of Development and Director of the Marist Brothers Community at Archbishop Molloy H.S.

Addendum: I heard one story when I was a young teacher at St. Ann's Academy. At Marmion Military Academy in the '40s, the Brothers ate lunch with the Benedictine priests. When the priests wanted to discuss something privately, they switched into Latin. This annoyed Barney. After a few months, when a Latin discussion started, Barney joined right in using fluent Latin. That ended the Latin conversations! This story illustrated how brilliant Barney was, but also his nice way of handling annoying situations. ----

Source: Original Marists All Site

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