Vandermoor, Nicholas

Nicholas Vandermoor was born in Overschei, Netherlands on July 24, 1894. Brother Vandermoor’s family emigrated to Saskatchewan, Canada in 1910; upon his parents’ death, Vandermoor moved to Vancouver Island where he worked as a caretaker and farmer at a residential school for Indigenous children run by the Sisters of St. Anne. From here, Vandermoor entered the Jesuit novitiate in November of 1925; shortly after saying his vows as a Brother, Vandermoor was assigned to the Spanish Residential School as farm supervisor. He would stay in Spanish for the remaining 42 years of his life.

With a focus on “industry,” the Spanish Residential School opened an auto mechanics course which Brother Vandermoor—a licensed auto mechanic—took charge of. When the Spanish Residential School closed in 1958, Brother Vandermoor remained at Spanish as a mechanic and custodian, caring for the remaining Jesuit properties. In 1966 and 1967, he served as assistant to the Superior at Spanish, and from 1967 until a collision took his life in 1969, he served as assistant to the pastor at Spanish.