Rosa 'Brother Cadfael' 28 August 2024

The Man that was Brother Edwin Charles Reggio, C.S.C.

I first met Brother Edwin Reggio, C.S.C. at St. Edward’s High School in 1958. He pressured me to learn to play the alto saxophone. He paid me to clean the band room and to catch mice. With that money I bought my first camera, a Pentacon-F with a Zeiss Tessar 50 mm f2.8 lens.

He was my mentor and we became friends. I would visit him often in Austin until he died on April 24 2013. He met not only my Rosemary but my two granddaughters, Lauren and Rebecca.

Ever since I figured out how to combine my plant scans with objects and photographs on my scanner I have found a delight in being able to do these scanographs.

When he was still alive I gave him the gift of an inkjet print of English Rose, Rosa ‘Brother Cadfael’. A year later when I visited him again he had made a frame for it and and even a brass plaque with my name on it.

Looking back at this wonderful man I can only consider myself so lucky to have met him and to have inspired me. I am a photographer because of Brother Edwin.