Bro. Ervan Digman SDS

Brother Ervan Digman SDS

Birth: December 31, 1932

Profession: March 19, 1950

Death: April 23, 2026

Brother Ervan Digman (birth name: Joseph Donald; but he went by his middle name) was born in Kieler, Wisconsin on December 31, 1932, the only son of Wilbert and Regina (Plendo) Digman. The family managed their home farm in nearby Dickeyville. It was as if he was born to work, and he worked hard as a young boy, taking on the chores and labors of a dairy farm, and milking 30 cows before he would leave in the morning to attend St. Andrew’s School in Tennyson and later Holy Ghost School in Dickeyville. He was taught by Salvatorian Sisters, and during those years he learned that there are also Salvatorian Brothers. Even in those young years of his life, he was already feeling a calling to become one of them. When he was 16 years old, he left home and moved to St. Nazianz where he lived as a Candidate for the Salvatorian community. He worked on its first-class farm, processing milk that was both for sale as well as for the kitchens to serve in their meals to the community members in the monastery and the students in the seminary. Then he entered the Society’s Novitiate in Menominee, Michigan, in March of 1949 and made his profession of vows on March 19, 1950. Brother Ervan remained for a year in Menominee, learning how to operate large boiler room equipment and other maintenance jobs that were required for sustaining a large campus in good condition. He was then transferred to Divine Savior Seminary in Lanham, Maryland, where he managed the small farm, the boiler room, and was also bus driver for the students who studied in nearby Washington DC. He picked up multiple trades without the aid of a classroom, and because work-involved jobs were in his blood, he started a chicken and turkey farm there on the campus. He processed the eggs for sale, operated heavy machinery, did construction work and maintained the school’s huge boiler room. He also drove the school bus for a local school as well.

In 1961, Bro. Ervan was assigned to St. Michael’s Parish and Indian Mission in Grand Ronde, Oregon, where he did maintenance and bus driving for the school. During his 26 years there, he also helped build up the rundown parish structures, taught physical education to the school children, ran a skating rink, and drove truck for a number of local lumber companies. He did his maintenance work not only for the parish but also for several local businesses. He tended to the parish’s funerals and drove the pastor to minister on his sick calls. Although he sometimes worked many 14-to-16-hour days, Brother loved every minute of it.

Bro. Ervan was transferred in 1987 to Queen of Peace Parish in Mesa, Arizona, and there he was the parish and school’s maintenance supervisor for 13 years. As he usually would do wherever he worked, he built up the rundown areas of the parish grounds, planted lawns and put in sprinkler systems, worked as a plumber, electrician, painter, plasterer and “jack of all trades.” In his many years ministering as a Salvatorian, Bro. Ervan never lost his zest for work and maintaining the beauty of the property where he was stationed. You would usually see him in his bib overalls, tending to the upkeep of his buildings and grounds. He also enjoyed driving – especially if the vehicle was a John Deere tractor! He loved to quote the Native American people he knew back in Grand Ronde, Oregon, who would say that “when a man kneels and clutches a clump of ground and runs it through his fingers, he touches the face of God.” No one knew that better than Bro. Ervan.

In 2000, just a few months after celebrating the 50th Anniversary of his Profession, Bro. Ervan retired to the family farm back in Wisconsin, to help his sister Rose, who had cared for the farm after their parents had both passed in the mid-1970's. Over the course of the next decade-and-a-half, the years of hard labor began to take a toll on Bro. Ervan’s overall health, and he underwent several bone surgeries to repair the damage. At the end of summer 2017, both Bro. Ervan and his sister moved to Alexian Village in Milwaukee, to live a less strenuous lifestyle with the retired Salvatorians there. They were welcomed warmly by the community members and residents of the Village, who would smile whenever they saw Bro. Ervan come into the chapel for Mass, wearing his ever-present bib overalls like they were his standard uniform. Near the end of 2025, Bro. Ervan needed more intensive care, and so he moved into the Health Center of the Village. By early April 2026, he was mostly confined to his bed. His sister visited him daily to spend time with him, and by mid-month he was sleeping most of the day. In the evening hours of April 23, 2026, Bro. Ervan slipped away peacefully into the arms of our Divine Savior. He was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his sister, Rita “Rose” Digman of Milwaukee, and his brothers and sisters in the Salvatorian Family.

Visitation Tuesday, May 5th, from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM at the Holy Spirit Chapel at Avina of Milwaukee, 9301 N. 76th St., Milwaukee, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 11:00 AM. Interment will be Tuesday, 3:00 PM at Salvatorian Cemetery in St. Nazianz, WI.