John Clement Gulde

Following a seven-week hospitalization, John C. (“Larry”) Gulde passed away at the age of 92 on October 8. He was the second of six children born to Philippina Marie Rosine Lutz Gulde and John Fidelis Gulde in Amarillo, TX. His father, who had fought in Germany in the trenches during WWI and had immigrated to this country soon after, was a leader in his newly adopted community and always a real advocate for democracy. His mother, whose parents were also immigrants from Germany, not only managed to raise six amazing children but also took care of her mother-in-law (Grossmutter) in their home during her later years as well as her own parents, who lived in an adjoining apartment the family built for them. The family’s Catholic faith was very much part of their daily lives, and their extended family included a Benedictine priest (Larry’s uncle, Father Lawrence Lutz, OSB) and a nun in the Order of the Little Sisters of the Poor (Larry’s aunt, Sister Melanie de St. Rose), who served in France during WWII.

After completing high school at Price College, a Christian Brothers high school in Amarillo, TX, Larry later graduated from Saint Mary’s College (known later as St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, Winona), B.S. in Mathematics (1951), M.A. in Theology (1957); Boston College, M.A. in Mathematics; and Memphis State University (later known as University of Memphis), P.h.D. in Mathematics (1980). He was a member of the religious order of Christian Brothers for thirty-seven years and taught a range of math and science courses in Christian Brothers high schools in IL, MI, and TN, as well as other locations. Throughout these years, he also enjoyed  establishing photography clubs, building the scenery for dramatic productions, tending the campus gardens, and even obtaining a pilot’s license to satisfy his lifelong love of flying. An enthusiastic and energetic teacher who loved learning, at every opportunity the Christian Brothers allowed he applied for summer National Science Foundation Grants which enabled him to study during the summers at Boston College, Fordham University, Western Washington State, University of MN, and the National Lab in Atomic Physics, at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Eager to continue graduate work in mathematics, he was grateful when the Brothers allowed him longer release time from his high school teaching duties to enter the Ph.D. program in Mathematics at Memphis State University, where he earned his degree in 1980. With his doctorate in hand, he was then hired at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, where he taught until he retired in 2000.

It was at CBU where he met Elizabeth (Libby) P. Broadwell, who had recently joined the faculty herself (Dept of English), and whom he later married. A sabbatical in 1990 at Burroughs-Wellcome took the couple to Chapel Hill, NC, and later that year back in Memphis they welcomed their daughter, Anna Broadwell-Gulde, into their lives and hearts. Once he married and became a father, Larry traded his pilot’s license for telling Anna adventurous bedtime stories, teaching her to play the violin, and later encouraging her to spread her own wings, and she did. So at the age of 85, Larry traveled to Northern Brazil, where Anna was living, becoming possibly the oldest participant on a five-day canoe trip down the Amazon River. In retirement, Larry and Libby returned to Chapel Hill, where Anna also landed, and they have enjoyed time with family and occasional excursions to the nearby ocean and mountains.

Larry always attended Mass on Sundays, often in Chapel Hill at the UNC Newman Center or St. Thomas More Catholic Church, but since the beginning of the pandemic enjoyed masses from around the world which he found online or televised. He loved walks on nearby trails, spotting various birds on the native plants surrounding his house or at his multiple feeders, watching documentaries and news on PBS, and reading. An avid believer in understanding historical context and multiple perspectives on important social issues, Larry was a careful listener, a close observer, and an advocate for the underserved and marginalized. A close friend of 40 years recently wrote that it was Larry’s “slow disclosure of individuality, character, and personal history that made him so complex, interesting, and endearing.”

In addition to his wife of 34 years, Libby Broadwell, and his daughter, Anna Broadwell-Gulde (Kevin Metz), he leaves his sister Margaret Rettenmaier (Don) of Amarillo, TX, sisters-in-law

Joan Gulde (Joe) of Amarillo, TX, Becky Gulde (Bob) of Roanoke, TX, Annette Broadwell and husband, Buzz Borchardt, of Chapel Hill, NC, and 28 nieces and nephews (many of whom claim to be his favorite) and their families to mourn his passing. He was predeceased by his parents, his sister Elizabeth Gulde Nussbaum (Leonard) of Amarillo, and his brothers, Joseph F. Gulde of Amarillo, Robert E. Gulde of Amarillo, and Charles James Gulde (Dorothy) of Altamonte Springs, FL. 

A private funeral Mass will be held at St Thomas More Catholic Church in Chapel Hill at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, October 15. His burial will follow at the Westfield Friends Meeting Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his memory to Pax Christi International Fund for Peace paxchristifund.org, 415 Michigan Ave, NE, Box 16, Washington, DC 20017, or The Dorothy Day House of Hospitality dorothydaymemphis.org, P.O. Box 40269, Memphis TN 38107, or the local food bank of your choice.