Brother Tom Kelly’s soft-spoken style puts people at ease. It’s a quality that has served him well the past 50 years as a Glenmary parish brother in Virginia, Ohio, West Virginia, Georgia and Kentucky.

When he first arrived at Glenmary he didn’t have any expectations as to where his call to ministry would lead him. "I knew I felt a call from God and, beyond that," he says, "I put trust in God that whatever was going to happen would."

The Sidney, Ohio, native was one of the first brothers to take the Glenmary Oath and he found that life as a Glenmary brother was a "perfect match for me." He felt a call to ministry but not priesthood, unlike his older brother, Father Jim Kelly, who is also a member of Glenmary.

As a Glenmary brother, Brother Tom has been able to be a member of the community and use his talents and skills as a handyman in the service of the Church and people in need. "It was just perfect," he says.

Although he says he has enjoyed all his assignments, he especially remembers his years working in Back Roads Ministry in South Georgia. An idea of then-president Father Robert Berson, the ministry was meant to serve the "poorest of the poor" in rural Georgia, and Brother Tom was the first to volunteer.

The ministry focused on building and repairing homes. But the impact was much more than that. He and his good friend, Brother Ralph Riehle, "met so many people. I had not worked in the South before and it was such a valuable experience for me to learn how to take time to sit and talk with people."

It was an adjustment to adapt to the South’s slower pace of life, Brother Tom says of those seven years in Georgia. But that slower pace still influences his life today.

What particular memories stand out over those 50 years? He pauses and then tells of his early formation and time spent with Father Bishop.

Each morning Brother Tom and a few others would accompany Father Bishop on a walk to get the mail. "It was a wonderful time to talk and just be together," he recalls. "We really enjoyed it, and it helped form our sense of community."

He laughs when asked about "retirement." Since receiving senior member status over two years ago, he has settled near Holy Redeemer Church in Vanceburg, Ky., and continues to serve as a parish brother.

"I’ve been enjoying my retirement immensely," he says. "I get to do things I really enjoy, which includes handyman work at the parish and the local Christian Community Center."

He also pitched in during the cleanup efforts which followed the devastating flood last January at the Glenmary Farm, also located in Vanceburg.

"There’s plenty to keep me busy," he says. But in all that busyness, he remembers the lessons he learned in South Georgia years ago: to sit a spell and take the time to talk and listen to people.

"It’s what Glenmary ministry is all about," he says.