Brother Nicholas at his overhead projector in math class at Cor Jesu 1968-9

Brother Nicholas at his overhead projector in his last year in the classroom in 1980-1

Pictorial Tribute to Brother Nicholas

Did You Know?

• Maurice Geisenberg was the son of a Jewish father and a Catholic mother. His dad, a butcher, died when Maurice was only 7.
• He played grammar school football and baseball at St. Aloysius School in Vicksburg MS, which he attended for 12 years.
• He was 19 when the joined the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in Metuchen NJ. That was comparatively old in 1932 when most entrants were still in high school.
• During the first years of World War II, Nick taught aeronautics at St. Aloysius in New Orleans even though he had never been in an airplane.
• In 1943, he became the first brother principal of St. Luke's Parochial School in the Bronx NY. As related by the late Brother James O'Grady, a student at the school, Nick's stern, no-nonsense approach to education inspired students to invent nicknames for him, none of which will be repeated here.
• Brother Nicholas served as Novice Master for the New Orleans Province from 1946-9.

Brother Nicholas started his adult life short and "grew" shorter. But he was a giant to the thousands of students he taught.

• I have an enduring image of Nick sitting in the Brother Martin Resource Center after school while a line of students, including football players in practice togs, waited to turn in their corrections for the math quizzes he had returned earlier.
• As Peter Finney Jr. wrote in a Clarion Herald article on the occasion of Nick's 90th birthday, "Brother Nick taught Saints owner Tom Benson, the late Baton Rouge Bishop Stanley Ott, and Austin Bishop [at that time] Gregory Aymond and thousands of rambunctious teenage boys who towered over him but never failed to look up to him."
• In that same article, Nick explained his approach to teaching. "When I was first starting out as a teacher, an elderly brother gave me some great advice. 'Don't smile before Christmas.' It worked so well I didn't smile after Christmas, either."

Many adults came to know and love Brother Nicholas during his tenure as Parents Club Moderator, first at Cor Jesu, then at Brother Martin. Deadly serious as a teacher, he let his mischievous side show outside the classroom. After retiring from the classroom in 1981, he worked in the bookstore and also became the soft drink provider for all the school secretaries.

I got to know Nick when I joined the staff of the new Brother Martin High School. He had been the Chairman of the Mathematics Department at Cor Jesu while I held the same post at St. Aloysius. The fact that I was chosen to fill the position at the merged school was never an issue. In fact, he was happy to be rid of the chairmanship. He was well entrenched as the Senior Math teacher, and, just as intimidated by him as his students, I let him continue where he was effective.

I really got to know Nick when I took him to the Saints games from 1999 through 2004 courtesy of the team owner.

• Nick followed the games actively and discussed NFL football intelligently until Katrina whisked him away to New England.
• In the Clarion article referred to earlier, Nick was asked if he would ever see the Saints make the Super Bowl. "I don’t think I'm going to live that long. I'm 90, after all."
• He did live to see it with his eyes if not with his mind.

In addition to Saints games, Nick attended what must have been over 1,000 Brother Martin sporting events. Through it all, he remained faithful to his schoolwork. Another enduring image is of him correcting papers at the opera.

The province archives contain the 1931 letter that Brother Bonaventure in Vicksburg wrote to Brother George about the young man who would soon travel to Metuchen to become a postulant. "I believe we have a young man of sterling worth and one of great promise." Bonny knew whereof he spoke.

Nick was born the year the Titanic sank. 98 years later, our Titanic has finally gone under. Like the ship, we will never forget Brother Nicholas.

2003 Clarion Herald article about Brother Nicholas

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