Brother Kevin (Eugene) McGuire, O.S.B., monk of St. Gregory’s Abbey, died on Thursday, July 7, 2022. He was 83 years old. Br. Kevin was born on May 17, 1939, in Oklahoma City, OK, to Paul and Doris (Ayotte) McGuire. He was baptized the next day and raised in the parish of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help along with his two brothers and one sister. After graduating from St. Gregory’s High School in 1957, Br. Kevin entered the novitiate at St. Gregory’s Abbey. He professed first vows a Benedictine Lay Brother on July 11, 1958. He made his permanent commitment as a monk by professing Simple Perpetual Vows on April 13, 1962. He was nearing the sixtyfourth anniversary of his first profession at the time of his death.
Br. Kevin possessed a deep sense of piety throughout his life with particular devotion to the presence of the Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and the love of God made manifest in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. During his many years of outdoor work he developed great sensitivity to God’s selfrevelation in nature through the changing of the seasons, the beauty of trees and the numerous species of birds that make the grounds of the monastery their home. Out of his love for birds he designed, built and installed hundreds of bluebird houses for the monastery and friends.
Br. Kevin served the monastic community in a wide variety of ways through manual labor, as caretaker of the Abbey cemetery and as a member of the Abbey Senior Council. He worked with the care of Abbey cattle, the harvest of farm crops, the maintenance of the facilities and vehicles, and the beautification of the monastery and college grounds. Early in his monastic life he suffered frostbite in his hands, resulting in Raynaud’s Syndrome. Despite this persistent condition, his love for outdoor work never wavered. He was particularly committed to adding trees to the campus, eventually planting most of the current trees on the property. He installed and maintained a network of pumps and irrigation pipes to bring water from monastery ponds to trees, shrubs and other plants during hot and dry periods of the long Oklahoma summer.
A natural engineer, Br. Kevin used discarded materials to design and build a number of tools and devices to use in his work. In the early1980s he combined an office chair, scrap pipe and an old car to build a system with which he ascended, sandblasted, cleaned and tuck-pointed the brick exteriors of the Abbey Church and the monumental academic center, Benedictine Hall. Along with serving as mechanic for the monastery, he assisted generations of students and friends who were having trouble with their cars and trucks. A triumph of his engineering and mechanical skills was the motorcycle he made from scrap, which he christened “Recycled Grace.” For many years he used it to make an annual fourweek “pilgrimage” to various parts of the United States to visit with family, alumni, friends, strangers and the occasional law enforcement officer whose curiosity was piqued by the unusual bike.
Having lived his entire monastic life in residence at the monastery, Br. Kevin forged bonds of friendship with countless persons of all walks of life, backgrounds and ages. He read widely, and often expressed himself through poetry and the beautiful prose of his extensive correspondence. Many found inspiration, wisdom and guidance in his simplicity of life, spiritual outlook and direct manner of speaking.
As he likely would have wanted, Br. Kevin died while engaged in outdoor work on July 7, 2022. He is survived by the monks of St. Gregory’s Abbey, brothers Hilary Paul (Phyllis) and Frank McGuire, sister Kathy Milot, and many nieces and nephews.
Memorial gifts should be directed to The St. Gregory’s Abbey Benefit Trust, 1900 W. MacArthur, Shawnee, OK 74804. Online donations can be made at: https://bit. ly/3ocVi3H
The homily from Br. Kevin’s funeral given by Abbot Lawrence can be read at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M7V1M xmaTj2FlcMaIQgLMKFIkSbgeSIEbgJsIwJ5nJ0/edit?usp=sharing captioned in the attached pictures.
This “Sacred Heart Brand” used to burn the image into the lid of the coffin was created by Br. Kevin several years ago when we more frequently crafted our own coffins. His coffin was hand-crafted by one of his nephews who used cedar that Br. Kevin had saved several years ago from trees that had fallen on the Abbey grounds. In this way Br. Kevin had a hand in the crafting of his own coffin.
Br. Kevin served as caretaker of the Abbey cemetery for many years. Long ago he had indicated which spot he hoped would be his final resting place - next to Br. Francis Taton, O.S.B., who died on March 21, 1964. As it turned out, we would have used this spot today even if he had not written his name on it because it was the next available plot that could be used.
