Brother William Chewning, S.M. a well-known member of the St. Mary's University community, passed away at the Marianist Residence on January 7, 2019.

He was 94, had been a Marianist for almost 77 years, and was a member of the St. Mary's Science faculty from 1977-2005.

Brother Bill was born in Decatur, Illinois in 1924.  He was the oldest of four brothers and sisters.  During the Great Depression, the family moved to St. Louis, Missouri to be closer to other family members.  It was there he met the Marianist when he entered McBride High School in 1936.  By 1939, he entered the Marianist Postulate in Kirkwood, Missouri, to finish his high school education.  Then followed his novitiate year in Galesville, Wisconsin.  He took his first vows in 1942.  He completed a degree in Mathematics at the University of Dayton in 1944.

For the next 33 years, Brother Bill worked in secondary education in Marianist high schools from San Antonio to Winnipeg, Canada.  In his first years, he was exclusively a math teacher but, in 1949, he began teaching chemistry.  Early on, he partnered with another Marianist Science teacher to author high school texts and lab manuals.  He wrote that those years of high school teaching were "an incomparable array of experiences… teaching, department chair, administration, coaching, activities such as bookstores, cafeterias, yearbooks and student councils, and many other chores that helped make a complete faculty member."

In 1977, Brother Bill's world changed again.  He was assigned to St. Mary's University where he would spend the next 28 years of his professional life.  In addition to his academic work, he was an active and enthusiastic participant in the Marianist Forum.

Brother Bill retired from teaching in 2005.  In his retirement he devoted himself to prayer even more than in the past.  He constantly prayed for vocations to the Marianist.

FUNERAL SERVICES

Services for Bro. Bill will be:  Sunday, January 13 viewing at 6:00 P.M. followed by the Rosary at 7:00 P.M. at Assumption Chapel at St. Mary's University.  Monday, January 14 viewing at 3:00 P.M. with Eucharist of Christian Burial at 4:00 P.M. again at Assumption Chapel.  Burial will follow in the Marianist Cemetery.  There will be a dinner in Conference Room A at University Center.

MEMORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Marianist Mission, 4435 E. Patterson Road, Dayton, OH 45430.