Bro. Bernie Scherger, SVD
by John Ceisel
Bro. Bernie Scherger, or “Bro. Bern” as he is more commonly known, is a living legend amongst the East Troy Wisconsin Divine Word Seminary High School Alumni, for his auto mechanic wizardry, his “kerfoots” for chronically late students, but mostly for his 56 years of quiet service to the East Troy community.
Bro. Bern will be 83 next February. While he described himself as “SOS” - slower, older and stiffer, I would describe him as SHARP. Our wide-ranging chat covered autonomous tractors, the coming of electrical vehicles, impacts of Artificial Intelligence, as well as past confreres and life in community.
Bro. Bern’s advice was “Do the best with talents you have.” Bro. Bern is almost legally blind due to a condition he was born with called ocular albinism, but he hasn’t let that slow him down. Bro. Bernie was rejected by three religious orders because of his ocular albinism before he was accepted by the SVDs. Bro. Bernie said he will always be grateful to the SVDs for accepting him. But Bro. Bern joined the SVDs at a time when brothers did not attend college, so he got his degree first. No stranger to hard work growing up on a farm in Ohio, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Physics from Ohio State University. Bro. Bern called his college days “four of the roughest years of his life” as he couldn’t see the board, didn’t have a tape recorder, talking books on LP records were too slow, and he struggled to decipher other students notes! But he persevered and graduated.
He joined the SVDs at Techny and was soon teaching physics to the SVD college students at Conesus, New York, before coming to East Troy, Wisconsin, to teach Physical Science, Chemistry, Physics and Biology at Divine Word Seminary (DWS) high school. Some chronically-late students might remember receiving an encouraging “kerfoot” to get them moving!
Bro. Bern spent long hours in the shop working his auto repair wizardry keeping the DWS fleet of not-so-new cars safe and reliable. Asked where he learned his auto mechanic skills, he said I was always interested in cars, and I read a book.
He never had a course in auto mechanics!
What keeps him going? Bro. Bern shared that to him, community means if there’s a job that needs doing, he feels he should do it; community is more than morning and evening prayers. And I know he lives that philosophy, as he almost canceled our time as he was the substitute cook for the community’s dinner.
DWS Alum Mike Ostrowski puts it well. Brother Bern. One of the humblest people one will ever meet,
he said. I wish I would have known during my time as a student that I was in the presence of such a holy man. But I thank God for blessing me with the time I have gotten to know Brother Bernie since high school. I see now what being an SVD Brother means.
Echoing Mike’s words, knowing – and being inspired by – Bro. Bernie, has been a blessing.