Br. Kevin (Eugene) McGuire, O.S.B.

Brother Kevin (Eugene) McGuire, O.S.B., monk of St. Gregory’s Abbey, died July 7 in Shawnee. He was 83. Brother Kevin was born on May 17, 1939, in Oklahoma City 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, Brother 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 64th anniversary of his first profession at the time of his death.

Brother Kevin possessed a deep sense of piety throughout his life with 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 self-revelation 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.

Brother 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, Brother Kevin used discarded materials to design and build several 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 four-week “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, Brother 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, Brother Kevin died while engaged in outdoor work on July 7. He is survived by the monks of Saint Gregory’s Abbey, brothers Hilary Paul (Phyllis) and Frank McGuire, sister Kathy Milot, and many nieces and nephews. Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated in the Abbey Church on July 15 with interment following in the Abbey Cemetery. 

Gifts in honor of Brother Kevin can be sent to The St. Gregory’s Abbey Benefit Trust, 1900 W. MacArthur, Shawnee 74804, or online at monksok.org.


Photo Theresa Bragg.