Wearing a custom-tailored U.S. Navy dress uniform, Joe Landry stood by humbly on the altar of St. Therese Parish, North Fort Myers, as he was recognized for his service to his country and to the parish.
Landry was one of several dozen veterans honored by the faithful before the closing prayer. He received special attention, not only because he is an altar server who spent 23 years in the U.S. Navy but also because he, now at 97, has been a fixture at the parish since its founding in 2003.
Landry served in the U.S. Navy as a medical corpsman for 23 years (1947-1970), then worked in the medical center of a steel mill in Indiana for 20 years before finally retiring. He and his wife, Grace, moved to North Fort Myers in 1993.
They were excited when St. Therese Mission was established and construction began on a church in 2001. “We watched them clear the land and the walls go up,” Landry explained. “Unfortunately, my Grace didn’t see it finished. She was my life.” Grace passed away in 2002. The couple was married for 52 years.
Landry, who is a proud father of six children, 18 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild on the way, saw the new mission church as a place to focus his life following his wife’s death.
Since the day the church opened, he volunteered to do just about everything he could, but he is best known as a daily Mass attendee and an altar server. Although others marvel at his commitment to serve, Landry is very humble and does not see his service as anything remarkable, but rather simply something he was called to do.
Even at 97, Landry is usually the first person in the church each morning and the last to leave. When he arrives at the parish, he makes the coffee, just the way he likes it – the Navy way, he said.
Father Jan Antonik, pastor of St. Therese, jokingly said he gave Landry a promotion from his highest Navy rank of chief petty officer, by referring to him as the “Admiral,”
“Because everyone knows and loves Joe. He has been with us since the beginning and without him I would be in trouble,” adding that if he set up a cot in the church, Joe would probably sleep there.
Father Antonik said that Landry has always kept his priorities straight, God, family, the Church, and the country, serving each with an unbridled devotion that is an example to those he encounters.
While serving in the Navy, Landry first served in naval hospitals in the U.S and around the world, including in England, Germany, Greece, Turkey, Italy, and Morocco.
After 10 years in hospitals, primarily as an X-ray technician, he was attached to serve as a field corpsman with the U.S. Marines. This service sent him to Marine training bases in California, South Carolina and Okinawa, Japan.
He served 12 months in Vietnam, explaining how it was a difficult time for him, but coped with the stress and hardships by simply “caring for my Marines.”
“They came to me for answers and to those Marines, I was the boss,” Landry said with a smile. He explained that the closest he came to death was when a mortar round landed very close to him. He was not wounded, but the explosion caused lasting hearing damage.
Born in 1929, the first of 11 children, Landry grew up in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, home of the Boston Red Sox farm team, affectionately known as the PawSox.
Although he is 97, he gets around fine but admits he uses the altar handrails more than he had in the past. When he is not serving on the altar, he can be found in the pews for daily Mass. Through the years he has sponsored several catechumens who entered the church and is active in many of the parish ministries.
“This is the best church,” Landry said of St. Therese. “This is my family.”
On Veterans Day, Landry again wore his uniform during Mass and then hurried to his neighboring community, Pine Lakes Country Club, to lead its Veterans Day celebration.
