1909 – 1990 (November 24)
Thomas Francis Walsh, son of Thomas Walsh and Helen McCarthy, was born on August 17, 1909 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He was baptized there two days later in Saint Mary’s Church. Thomas was one of four siblings to enter religious life. His older brother, John, was also a member of our Province. He was educated at Saint Mary’s Parish School and Saint John’s Preparatory School in Danvers, Massachusetts. At the end of his sophomore year he transferred to Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, New York, from which he graduated in 1926. In August of that year he was received as a novice. He professed simple vows at Our Mother of Good Counsel Novitiate on August 16, 1927. Three years later he professed solemn vows at Saint Mary’s Hall, Villanova. He graduated from Villanova in 1931 with an A.B. degree and began the study of theology at Augustinian College, Washington, DC. During the summers he took courses in music at the nearby Catholic University of America. On June 12, 1934 he was ordained to the priesthood at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. Following ordination he took graduate courses in mathematics at Fordham University and New York University where he earned a master’s degree in 1941.
Father Walsh’s first assignment was to Saint Clare Parish in Chicago, Illinois, in 1935. After a short experience in parish work he began his long apostolate in education. From 1935 to 1950 he taught mathematics at Augustinian Academy. There his friendly and outgoing personality impressed many future Augustinians. In 1950 he was assigned to the newly opened Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts, where he taught mathematics and served as treasurer of the Augustinian community. At Merrimack he he directed plays and musicals, formed and conducted choral groups, and organized ski trips. With his brother Augustinians his remarkable talent at the piano delighted many festive gatherings.
He died at Merrimack on November 24, 1990. On November 27 a Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at the Collegiate Chapel of Christ the Teacher. Father John Deegan, O.S.A., president of Merrimack College, delivered the homily. Interment was in the Augustinian section of Saint Mary’s Cemetery in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
