Thomas Bello

Tom moved to northern Virginia with his wife in 1975 after discontinuing his studies at Yale Law School. He pursued instead both writing and teaching to help underserved communities. For 34 years, he taught adult refugees and immigrants English as a second language, enabling them to improve their lives through better communications skills. An award-winning teacher, he shepherded his adult students beyond the classroom to practice diverse skills and help them better understand their new homeland. For example, they traveled by Metro to the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, picked strawberries on local farms, filled out tax returns, and shared presentations, songs and foods representing each student’s cultural heritage. His classroom resembled a mini-UN at its best.

Equally devoted to spiritual life, Tom studied and trained many years to become a Roman Catholic deacon. Serving in the Arlington Diocese, primarily at St. James, Tom assisted priests on the altar, proclaimed the Gospel, offered homilies at Mass, baptized legions of children, sponsored new church members, helped prepare students for first communion, led Scripture study groups, spoke at wakes, presided at funerals and marriages, helped distribute food for needy families, and ministered especially to those confined in hospitals, nursing homes, mental institutions, and prisons.

A lifelong admirer of St. Francis, Tom joined the Secular Franciscan Order (OFS) to better pursue peace, prayer, harmony with nature, and active service to others. He was privileged to serve as National Minister for all North American Secular Franciscans for the last 6 years. In his last 6 months, he devoted his declining energy to completing an OFS book offering spiritual reflections and advice on how to form and develop local fraternities. He also authored a book of daily reflections and provided content for the website www.mercyhour.org.

Tom earned many honors (eg, Rhodes and Morehead Scholarships and teaching awards), but he most valued helping to improve the lives of others. Although imperfect like us all, Tom made service to others the spine of his life.

He is survived by his wife, Judy; sons Yeats and Pierce and daughter Jackie; daughters-in-law Alyssa and Justine; grandchildren Julian, Cadence, Rowan, and Parker; and extended family Melissa Hippler; John, Dylan, and Hannah Butler; Kirstin Krudwig; Nathan Williams and Mark Schools.

Wakes sharing stories about Tom will be held at 2-4 pm and 7-9 pm on Fri., April 1 at Murphy Funeral Home, 1102 W. Broad St., and a funeral Mass on Sat., April 2 at 10 am at St. James Catholic Church, 905 Park Ave. (both in Falls Church).

To share in celebrating Tom’s life, you could consider volunteering to help immigrants, needy families, your faith community, individuals isolated by infirmity or incarceration, food kitchens, or homeless shelters. Your favorite charity surely welcomes donations; Tom’s favorites were Catholic Charities, St. James Catholic Church Social Outreach Committee, Secular Franciscan Order, and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.