Brother Leonard (James Leo) O’Dowd, OCSO, 102, of St. Joseph’s Abbey, 167 North Spencer Road died peacefully Monday, December 24, 2007 at St. Joseph’s Abbey, surrounded by the Father Abbot and the community of the monastery.
Brother Leonard is by survived by his nephews, Charles W. Dee Sr., Dr. Norman Dee, and his niece, Martha Pagano all from Concord. Also, his grandnieces and nephews, Charles W. Dee Jr., of Concord, James H. Jr., Stephen, Brian, Peter, and Francis Dee. William, Scott, John and Mark O’Dowd. Susan Dee of Stow, Sherry Mobley of Pepperell, Janet Hannon of Leominster, Carol Nutter of Nashua NH, Patricia Benenato, Ann Mankiewicz of Lancaster, Jane Brown of Northborough, Donna Spinelli of Maynard, and Deborah Pagano of St. Louis.
Brother Leonard was born in Bedford on May 2 1905, son of Charles W. O’Dowd and Bridget Tackney. After graduation from Lincoln High School in 1923 he attended MIT where he graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering in 1927. He subsequently worked with General Electric for a number of years.
October 12, 1945 he entered the Abbey of Our Lady of the Valley in Valley Falls, Rhode Island, where be became a laybrother novice in 1946. After making his first vows on May 9, 1948 he served as the monastery’s electrician. After the tragic destruction of the monastery by fire on the night of March 21, 1950 the community transferred temporarily to a CCC camp in Chepachet, Rhode Island, but on December 23 of the same year they were able to move into their new monastery of St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, where Brother Leonard made his Solemn Profession on May 14, 1951.
He played an important role in the construction of the new abbey, designing the electrical circuitry for the entire complex. After the completion of the new buildings Brother Leonard was sent to the monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in New Mexico for a year and a half, returning to Spencer in 1956.
Over the years Brother Leonard served in various capacities, such as seamster in the Holy Rood Guild, the monastery’s atelier of liturgical vesture, but it was above all as Porter of the monastery that he will be remembered by his brothers as well as by the many visitors to the monastery who came to know and love him and whom he cherished as friends throughout his lifetime.
Br. Leonard’s funeral will be held Friday December 28 at St. Joseph’s Abbey, 167 N Spencer Rd, Spencer with a Mass at 2:00 PM in the abbey church.
J. HENRI MORIN & SON FUNERAL HOME, 23 Maple Terrace, Spencer, is directing arrangements.