Herald Staff Report
(From the issue of 3/17/05)

Oblate of St. Francis de Sales Deacon Eric Laudeman, 34, was killed in a car accident on the Garden State Parkway near Avalon, N.J., Thursday night, March 10. He was alone in the car and according to a press release apparently fell asleep at the wheel.

He is survived by his parents Alfred Laudeman of Orlando, Fla., and Catherine Laudeman of Pottsville, Pa.; sisters Christine Soloway, Paula Vericker and Katrina Laudeman of Florida.

Laudeman was born on March 28, 1970, in Pottsville, Pa. He graduated from Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers, Fla., in 1988. He received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of South Florida in 1994. He was a candidate for a Master of Divinity at the Washington Theological Union in Washington.

Laudeman entered the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales August 23, 1998, made his first profession of vows in 2001 and his perpetual profession of vows May 15, 2004. He was to be ordained to the priesthood on May 21.

On Sept. 11, 2004, Laudeman was ordained a deacon in the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington and he began his ministry as a parish deacon at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Vienna.

Following his priestly ordination, Laudeman was to be assigned as chaplain to Northeast Catholic High School in Philadelphia, Pa.

A funeral Mass was offered March 16 at St. John Neumann Church in Reston. Interment will take place at a later date in the Oblate Cemetery at the De Sales Centre in Childs, Md.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to the Oblate Seminary Fund, 1020 West 18th St., Suite One, Wilmington, Del. 19802.