Brady, Leo
Brother Leo Brady died on November 6, 2015 at Ajax-Pickering Hospital in his 97th year of life and 68th year of religious life. Bro. Leo was born in Inverary, ON (near Kingston, ON) on July 29, 1919, the son of Michael Patrick and Margaret Boyle. In 1948, Leo followed his older brother, Daniel into the Jesuit novitiate at Guelph. Two of his sisters also entered religious life. After pronouncing first vows in 1950, Bro. Leo began his long stay at Guelph as carpenter and assistant gardener. In those years, the large novitiate community was supplied with food from the farm and the orchards. In 1959, he was assigned as carpenter to the new Regis College in Willowdale, ON. There he installed the gymnasium floor and did much of the finishing woodwork around the new building.
Bro. Leo went back to Guelph in 1962 and was put in charge of the farm, a heavy responsibility as the farm consisted of a significant herd of cattle and pigs housed in a large barn. With the Ignatius Farm Community in full operation, Bro. Leo’s work was lessened. After the death of the legendary Bro. Benjamin Reischman in 1980, Bro. Leo took on work in the orchards. He also added the maintenance of the buildings on the property to his portfolio. It was in 2001, that Bro. Leo ended his long tenure of 50 years serving the Guelph community and moved to the Jesuit Infirmary in Pickering. At Pickering he did house works and rarely missed a day walking outside. His outlook on life was so positive that many Jesuits regularly visited Br. Leo just for the sheer joy of witnessing his smiling face.