Culley, Thomas D.

Father Thomas D. Culley, S.J., a member of the New Orleans Province, departed this life on July 14, 2009 at Ignatius Residence, in New Orleans.Fr. Culley was 81 years old, a Jesuit for 58 years and a priest for 44 years.

Born in Holdenville, Oklahoma on April 2, 1928, Tom entered the Jesuits on July 30, 1950, after two years at the Julliard School of Music in New York. He received a B.A. degree in Music from Loyola University New Orleans in 1954; a B.A. in Latin from Spring Hill College, in 1956, and an M.A. in Music Study from Harvard University in 1961. Father Culley began his theological studies in 1962 at the Collegio S.F.Faverio in Rome. He returned to the States to continue his theology at Weston College, Cambridge from 1963-1966 and was ordained in 1965, the same year that he received his Ph.D. in Music from Harvard.

During the period from 1960 until 1977, Fr. Culley taught music at Harvard University, Brown University, and Holy Cross College. He was the Chair of the Department of Music at State University of New York from 1977 until 1982. Returning to Loyola University New Orleans in 1983, he was artist in residence and Professor of Humanities until 1993. Following this, he taught private music lessons in New Orleans and did research in Ottowa, Canada. In 1996, he served as an Assistant Pastor at St. Bernard Parish in Concord, Massachusetts. Due to health reasons, he was missioned to Ignatius Residence in New Orleans to pray for the Church and the Society in 1997.

Tom was preceded in death by his parents, Mattie and Thomas D. Culley, Sr. and a sister, Mrs. Letty
Jo Brundage.