Father Thomas M. Walsh, SSC, 1933-2021

Columban Father Thomas Walsh, 88, died the morning of March 17, 2021, at his residence in Silver Creek. Father Walsh was born on Jan. 12, 1933, the son of the late Thomas Michael and Mary (O’Connor) Walsh in Watertown, Massachusetts. He attended parish schools and Matignon High School in North Cambridge, before beginning his studies at the Columban Father’s Seminary in Milton in September 1948.

He was ordained on Dec. 21, 1957, at St. Columban’s Major Seminary Chapel by Bishop Jeremiah F. Minihan, auxiliary bishop of Boston. He was appointed to South Korea in the spring of 1958 and in 1959, he was assigned to the Diocese of Chunchon and sent to Hoengsong parish. At the end of 1960 he returned to the U.S. in ill health.

After appointments in the U.S. Region in Silver Creek, Brooklyn and Derby, New York; Milton, Massachusetts; and the Virgin Islands, Father Walsh received permission to join the U.S. Army Chaplains Corps. Over the next 20 years, he served the troops in places as diverse as Arizona, Alaska, Germany, Hawaii, New Jersey and South Korea.

Having completed time with the forces, he attended the Pacific Mission Institute course at Turramurra, Australia in 1991, after which he began a new mission assignment in Chile where he remained until retirement in 2004.

He has been a resident of St. Columban’s on the Lake in Silver Creek for 16 years.

Father Walsh is survived by his sister Joan Bunker. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his sister Marie Forristall and brother Father John Walsh.