Submitted by: Dan Rich

Brother Peter Claver Tessier, CSC

Oct. 5, 1922 - Feb. 20, 2007

South Bend Tribune 2/22/2007
SOUTH BEND - Brother Peter Claver (Edward) Tessier, CSC, 84, died in Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center, South Bend, on Tuesday, February 20, 2007, after a long illness. Born in North Adams, Mass., on October 5, 1922, Br. Peter was one of two sons of Edward J. and May (Robson) Tessier. From 1927 to 1940, he attended Catholic elementary and high schools in North Adams. In 1940 he began a two-year stint working for Sprague Electric Co. assembling electrical condensers.

In September 1942, Br. Peter entered the candidate program for the Brothers of Holy Cross in Valatie, N.Y., moving from there on January 15, 1943, to enter the novitiate of the congregation in North Dartmouth, Mass. On February 2, the following year, he pronounced his first temporary vows of religion, and his perpetual vows in August 1947. Upon completing the novitiate, Br. Peter was assigned to the same location in which he spent his candidacy, Valatie, N.Y., and was placed in charge of the poultry farm. In 1945, after the brothers and priests of Holy Cross reorganized into separate United States provinces while retaining the same single general administration, Br. Peter was asked to come to Notre Dame, Ind., where he spent two years on the staff of Dujarie Institute, the house of studies of the brothers. In 1947 he moved to Sacred Heart Juniorate, the Midwestern candidacy house in Watertown, Wis. Then, in 1950, he was assigned for a year to the staff of St. Joseph's Farm, Granger, Ind. From 1951 to 1957 he was on the faculty and staff of St. Charles Boys' Home, Milwaukee, Wis. He returned in 1957 to Notre Dame to work in the post office for two years.

From 1959 to 1961 he helped staff the community infirmary on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, after which time he began a 37-year tour of duty at the new infirmary for the priests' provinces, Holy Cross House, built on the site of the old community infirmary. While there, Br. Peter did maintenance and ground work, becoming known for his talent and patience in caring for the shrub and flowers surrounding the building. Age and health prompted him to retire in 1998 at the Helen D. Schubert Villa, the brothers' assisted living facility at Notre Dame. He lived there until more severe symptoms forced him to move to Dujarie House, the brothers' infirmary adjacent to Schubert Villa.

Br. Peter's introspective, even contemplative temperament, and his naturally quite demeanor were perfect foundations on which to build his growing love for the shrubbery and flowers he cared for so devotedly over the years, as well as for his assistance in maintaining the building housing the infirmary of the Indiana Province. Both his disposition and the location of Holy Cross House contributed to his remaining relatively unknown in his own Midwest Province, headquartered across the highway from Notre Dame, but Br. Peter's devotion to those he served so sensitively over the years bound him tightly to the congregation even as certain circumstances experienced in the past tended at times to suggest the extent of his relationship with his province.