Lawrence T. Darnell ’62

Larry died April 15, 2026, in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif. 

He came to us from Portsmouth (R.I.) Priory. At Princeton, he rowed heavyweight crew, majored in history, and dined at Cap & Gown. 

Following graduation, he returned home to Memphis to begin a career in the insurance industry, but after four years he felt called to the priesthood in the Catholic Church. He began his formation with the Oblates of the Virgin Mary in Rome, Italy, and later Boston. He left the seminary but later returned. In 1979, he was sent to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he was ordained to the diaconate in 1981 and the priesthood in 1982. Later he was assigned to Boston and finally to the parish of St. Peter Chanel in Hawaiian Gardens in 1989, becoming its pastor in 1991. He retired in 2022, but continued teaching adults interested in becoming Catholics. 

Classmate Peter Schroeder, Larry’s crew teammate, described him as follows: “He was gentle, softspoken, and remarkably free of negativity or criticism toward anyone or anything. Looking back now, I can see that even in those college years an uncommon compassion that would later become central to his life and calling as a priest.”