Brother Leo Gregory, 93
SPENCER - Brother Leo Gregory, OCSO, a Trappist monk of St. Joseph's Abbey, 167 North Spencer Road, died Sunday, December 18, 2011 at St. Mary's Healthcare Center in Worcester after a long illness.
Born Christopher Roderick Norton Gregory in Berkeley, California, in 1917, he was a graduate of Le Rosey in Rolle, Switzerland, and attended the Colorado School of Mines, University of California.
In 1938 he entered the Trappist monastery of Our Lady of the Valley in Lonsdale, Rhode Island, professing his life vows in 1943. He served the monastery as infirmarian, cellarer and in various other capacities.
After a disastrous fire destroyed the Rhode Island monastery in 1950, Brother Leo was instrumental in transferring the monks to Spencer, building what became St. Joseph's Abbey. In 1966 he began a long residency in South America and returned to Spencer in 1997.
As well as his brothers at the Abbey, Brother Leo is survived by a cousin in California.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Thursday, December 22 at 2 P.M. at St. Joseph's Abbey. Burial is in the Abbey cemetery. J.HENRI MORIN & SON FUNERAL HOME, 23 Maple Terrace, Spencer, is directing arrangements.