Foundlings All
By Fr. Bernard J. Coughlin, S.J.

"I have no idea when I got there, where I came from, or how I got there, but the records show that I was born on March 5, 1912 and that I was baptized Nathaniel Green."

The records were of the New York Foundling Hospital run by the Sisters of Charity. The hospital, founded in 1869 at the height of the European immigration, was the brainchild of Charles Loring Brace and Sister Irene; it received homeless children from New York's streets and sent them on to rural America for adoption and foster care.

Nathaniel stayed at the hospital probably no more than two or three years, when, as a toddler, he was loaded onto the Orphan Train of the Heritage Society of America that took him to St. Paul, Minn. It wasn't long before Nathaniel became Joe when he was adopted by Alfred and Grace Behrens. His first and lasting memory of his father: "He picked me up and put me on his shoulder! I grew very fond of him; he was a fine man."

He also was a hard‑working man: farmer, baker, butcher, even did a stint as a sailor in the Navy, as the family moved around pursuing work opportunities. When Joe was 5, they moved to Scobey, Mont., then later to Lewistown, then Kellogg, Idaho where Mr. Behrens worked in the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines.

Around the mid 1920s they moved to Spokane and, as Joe recalled, "virtually all of my education took place in this one square block: St. Al's grade school, Gonzaga Prep, then Gonzaga University. I had no money; I walked the streets a lot looking for work. One day I stepped into the Courthouse and observed some legal hearings and was inspired to enroll in Gonzaga's night Law School program. Working and going to school part time, in five years I received my law degree. That was in 1942."

On Aug. 15, 1945 his father died: "My dearest friend, my closest pal, my confidant." Not all the kids who rode the Orphan Train out West were as fortunate. Joe's voice broke as he reminisced: "What a great man was my dad."

Joe Behrens practiced law for a few years in Spokane, then moved to Seattle to take a position in the legal and claims department of the General Insurance Company of America, later Safeco. There his career spanned 30 years.

As I visited with Joe in his Seattle apartment, I was struck by his ability to recall the milestones in his life. Wanting more details about his Gonzaga University years, I slowed him down and asked: "What are your happiest and unhappiest memories of Gonzaga University?"Without a blink he said: "My happiest years at Gonzaga were with the Glee Club."

Only a few years older than Behrens, Lyle Moore had recently arrived at Gonzaga as a young shining star from the East Coast. Joe joined the Glee Club and, like everyone else, found Lyle a demand­ing director with unreachable standards. Joe had a job waiting tables in Spokane, and juggling all the demands from work, school and the Glee Club, showed up for practice one day not knowing the words to a song. Ever the taskmaster, Lyle kicked him out of the Club.

Lyle, however, soon realized that he needed a top tenor badly, and Joe was a top tenor, so he sent for Joe and took him back. Joe sang in the Gonzaga Glee Club for five years. "Lyle and I have had a great friendship ever since." Joe's enthusiasm bubbles as he reflects on those years: "I had no money, but I wouldn't trade those years for anything. Lyle taught us a lot more than music. When I think of Lyle Moore I hear him bark: 'There is no such thing as good enough. It's good or it's lousy!' He taught discipline, character and excellence. Ask any member of the Glee Club and they will tell you that."

"And your unhappiest memories?"
"I don't have one bad thought about Gonzaga University:"

Joe married Alice Miller. They had one daughter, Judy, who had three sons: Joe, Mike and Eric. Eric had three children. On their 25th wedding anniver­sary, Joe took Alice to New York to show her the Foundling Hospital where it all began. Which led him to reminiscing again about his dad: "I learned a lot from him and one thing especially I remember; he would say: 'If you are going to take, you've got to give. God gave us two hands, one is for receiving and the other is for giving'."

That lesson was not lost on Joe.

A few years ago when the Glee Club alumni suggested an endowed scholarship honoring Lyle Moore, Joe Behrens was the first to step up to the plate with a cash gift. He later augmented that gift with a gift annuity. That inspired other Glee Club alumni - and the Lyle Moore Endowed Scholarship at Gonzaga is now over $300,000.

Joe continued: "Lost I was, and found. Thank God for Alfred August Behrens and for those years at Gonzaga. And now I would like the Behrens name memorialized alongside Lyle Moore at Gonzaga."

So, a few years ago, Joe made plans to fund the Joe Behrens Endowed Scholarship through his will.