Divine Word Brother Joachim (Marion) Brignac, 88, died March 29. He was one of the Society of the Divine Word’s first missionaries of Cajun descent.

Born in New Orleans, Brother Joachim was inspired to a life of service by his mother, a public health nurse. After high school, he worked as an adagio dancer, but that career was cut short by a motorcycle accident. He entered the Society of the Divine Word in 1953 and professed vows six years later.

He served as a maintenance engineer in Louisiana for 14 years before being assigned to the Chicago Province in 1979, where he maintained the buildings and property at the Divine World Theologate in Chicago and the Divine Word residence in Bordentown, New Jersey.

One of his lasting accomplishments is the stage in the gym at Elizabeth School in Bronzeville. The project took him four weeks to build and gave countless numbers of students and teachers satisfaction.

In 2003, he was reassigned to the Southern Province and moved to Bay St. Louis, but in 2005, Hurricane Katrina damaged the Divine Word properties in Bay St. Louis and retired residents, including Brother Joachim, were sent to Techny.