Wednesday, December 2, 2009

A Mass of Christian Burial for Marianist Brother Don Fahrig  was celebrated Nov. 28 at Queen of Apostles Chapel at Mount Saint John in Dayton. Brother Don, 83, died Nov. 22 in Dayton. He had been a Marianist for 58 years.

A native of Dayton, Brother Don professed first vows in 1951 in Marcy, N.Y., and perpetual vows in 1955 in Dayton. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1950 from the University of Dayton and a master’s degree in educational administration in 1954 from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He later studied library science at Catholic University and Western Michigan University.

Brother Don taught at Purcell and Moeller high schools in Cincinnati; Chaminade High School in Mineola, N.Y.; Msgr. John R. Hackett High School in Kalamazoo, Mich.; and Chaminade College in Toronto. He was principal at Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky.

He served as a librarian at Archbishop Moeller and Purcell (which became Purcell Marian) high schools and at the Marian Library on the campus of the University of Dayton. He moderated the Purcell literary magazine, The Plume. For one year he was coordinator of the Marianist scholastics and editor of the Marianist Bulletin newsletter.

In 2003 Brother Don moved to the Alumni Hall community in Dayton, where he visited brothers at the care centers at St. Leonard’s and Mercy Siena. Declining health necessitated his own transition to Mercy Siena.

Interment was at Queen of Heaven Cemetery at Mount St. John.