Thomas Cully entered eternal life peacefully on September 2, 2024, after a long illness. Thomas was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 3, 1937 to Peter and Katherine (O’Donnell) Cully. Both parents were from Donegal, Ireland. Thomas is predeceased by both parents, his older brother, Peter, and his younger brother, Charles, also a Xaverian Brother. He is survived by members of his brother Peter’s family. Many of Thomas’ loyal friends helped him greatly as he was able to do less for himself.
While a student at Saint Teresa’s Elementary School, Tom first met the Xaverian Brothers. He entered the Brothers’ formation program at Saint Joseph Juniorate in Peabody, MA in 1952. Upon graduation from the Juniorate in 1956, Tom entered Sacred Heart Novitiate in Fort Monroe, VA where he received the Xaverian habit and religious name, ‘Brother Russell.’ Tom spent five months as a novice at Flaget Memorial High School in Louisville, Kentucky before taking his first vows. Tom earned his BA from the Catholic University in 1963. Tom also studied at Columbia University in New York, Gannon, la Universidad Católica of Puerto Rico and Queens College, where he earned certification as a Court Officer and Narcotics Counselor.
His first mission was to the newly opened Nazareth High School in Brooklyn, NY. Tom taught at Nazareth from 1963-1972. He was an excellent Spanish teacher. His creativity, humor, energy and gregarious way engaged the students. He made learning fun. While at Nazareth, Tom, along with other Brothers (Michael Warren, Charlie Reiter, Marty Moran, to name a few) were the first to be involved with the new Student Retreat Program. These Brothers helped expand the program to other Xaverian schools. Tom also taught at Holy Name Elementary School and at Bishop Ford High School from 1972-1992.
Tom’s personal relationships with former students and colleagues were enduring. Almost sixty years after leaving Nazareth, Brother Matthew Burke, a former principal and a board member at the school, asked Tom to help revitalize the Alumni Association. The alums who participated did so largely because of their affection and gratitude for Tom’s influence on their lives. Many things changed during those years except the depth of love that binds people together.
Tom would follow a unique path in ministry. From 1992 through 2003, Tom worked as a Senior Court Clerk and Narcotics Counselor for the New York Department of Corrections. It was non-church related yet nonetheless a ministry many individuals needed. Again, his characteristic personal qualities, his awareness of people, would allow him to listen, challenge and help inmates. Tom developed relationships with other officers that are characterized by an enduring loyalty.
Tom’s mother had retired in the Catskills Mountains of New York. Tom retired there also. There are men – alums of Nazareth, Holy Name or Bishop Ford – who have been traveling from New York City every weekend to visit with Tom at his home in the Catskills, a trip of at least two hours by car. Loyalty was a life theme that Tom best exemplified in his lifelong relationship with the late Brother Flannan Halinan. They knew each other and were together since their days at St. Teresa of Avila. The Fundamental Principles of the Xaverian Brothers clearly directs our purpose in life:
It is this communion with the living God
which is at the heart of your life
as son of the Father,
disciple of Jesus,
witness of His spirit,
quickened member of His Body,
and brother to the world.
In his own inimical way, Tom, found that communion. It impelled him to go beyond the walls that traditionally define our life. As Tom enters eternal life, we honor his uniqueness and the wonderful impact that he had on so many lives—an impact grounded no doubt in his love of God as it impelled him to embrace life, family, friends and strangers with genuine care.
May Tom enjoy the peace and love that Christ promises all who follow in his footsteps.
Prepared by Brother Edward Driscoll, CFX
Funeral Arrangements
Viewing
Wednesday, September 4, 2024, 3pm – 6pm
A.J. Cunningham Funeral Home
4898 New York 81
Greenville, NY 12083
Funeral Mass
Thursday, September 5, 2024, 11am
Our Lady of Knock Shrine
2052 Route 145
E Durham, NY 12423
Brother Tom was a wonderful man, I had him as a teacher at Bishop Ford HS in the 1980’s. He taught religion and made the class fun and exciting!! He was always looking out for his students!! I loved having him as a teacher and a friend!! May God Bless him and may he Rest In Eternal Peace!! He was a good man !! ❤️🙏❤️🙏
I had Bro, Tom (aka Russell) for freshman home room, he was also my freshman track coach,a spanish teacher and great friend. He taught me a lot about life.We were both St, Teresa of Avila students…although years apart. We spoke every week or two. He was always in high spirits…although a bit less so after his brother Charles passed. He was a great Brother, teacher ,coach and friend. He broke the mold as a Xaverian brother. A loud, gregarious Irishman…he never met a stranger. He was also a great flsg football player…amazingly fast for his size…with great moves. I will miss him and our conversations. Hope to see him again someday.Positive up till the end…he will be missed. I know he is making Jesuk laugh and that he is getting his heavenl rewards…all well deserved. RIP with Jesus my friend
I worked with Tom at Brooklyn Night Court. He was a fun and thoughtful guy and a good guy to have a beer with! I miss him already.
I just learned today of Tom’s passing. I remember him from Xaverian College in Silver Spring, Maryland and he graduated from Catholic University just two years ahead of me. At that point our lives moved in different directions. Tom was a personality one never forgets, though lives travel different paths.
Brother Tom was a great Teacher and friend at Bishop Ford. He had the right combination of personality, humor, & Ability to keep us interested as he tought us. His sense of humor was great. I had lost touch with Brother Tom after High School but was able to reconnect with him years later as a Rookie on the NYPD at Brooklyn Court House. It was nice to see him. Rest in peace Brother Tom.🙏💙
A good human being and that’s an understatement. When we would cross paths in court I would gleefully call him “Brother Tom”. We would talk for quite a while and when I left the room I would feel as if I had met Ghandi. There are only a handful of people who have left a such an impression upon me. Tonight I will raise a glass in your honor. Until we meet again, and when we meet again, you, me and FF will have a good laugh.
The world has lost a great man.
Brother Thomas taught us at Holy Name in Brooklyn for 7th Grade (1976-77 school year) — what a great bunch of kids, and what a great teacher! We all enjoyed the first year so much that Brother Tom decided to teach us for 8th Grade as well, so we had him for another wonderful year; Brother Tom shepherded us to graduation in 1978 and out the door to high school and our respective lives thereafter.
I still have friends from that time, and we never fail to reference Bro Tom and the positive role he played in our young lives. He had a great sense of humor and could be stern when needed, but in our case, Brother Tom eventually molded a wayward bunch of kids into (fairly) responsible young adults. It was two years all of us in his class will never forget, and each of us can remember fondly his huge presence in our education, and our lives.
Brother Tom was also a great outdoorsman, and shared that with us on frequent trips to “Ma Cully’s” place up in the Catskills and on trips out West during the mid-winter breaks. He wasn’t adverse to a running a small poker game in aide of winning the Mission Banner as well, which firmly hung on our door for the full two years.
He taught us to be men–and women–and those of us in his class were mostly the tail ends of huge neighborhood families (Quirke, Lang, Layden, Fields, Cain, Fasano, Leaver and the rest) who needed a bit of adult supervision in the wild terrain of Brooklyn in the ’70s. Brother Tom’s presence was well-timed, and under his wise tutelage we survived and thrived, ready to move on into the world, all the better for the two years being taught by him.
Thanks for spending that valuable time with us, Brother Thomas. Rest in Peace
Great memories, Mr. Fields! ’78 was a great class. Br. Tom would feign sticking a needle in his arm and chide us, “you’re a bunch of junkies!” Affectionately, of course!
I moved to Staten Island in January of 8th grade, but commuted to Brooklyn to graduate from Holy Name. On a few occasions, Br. Tom drove me home to spare me the 2 1/2 hour train/bus journey. He looked out for everybody. He will be missed.
I had the pleausre to learn from Brother Tom, both at Holy Name of Jesus and at Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School. His approach to teaching was, different, I would say “worldly”. I think of those days and of him fondly. May God rest his good soul.
Thank you for all the great memories. Heather it was a “Holy smok’in” or a comical lift of his “pant leg” to remind us of his authority…his wit, humor and kindness was so appreciated. I am so thankful for my memories and wxperiences with Br. Tom. My brothers and I would laugh about our experiences with him still. The Hernandez family of Brooklyn loved BT. Rest in Peace! Thank you for your love.
I was a student of Brother Tom at Bishop Ford. He was such a dear and wonderful person. Years later I became an attorney and was shocked to see him working as a clerk in night court at Brooklyn criminal court. He was always so sweet. I had gone to do a case and I went to the window and heard his voice saying is that the same Robert Osuna from Bishop Ford???? I was always happy to see him. May he rest in eternal peace. A true man of God in every way.
Tom, then Brother Russell, was my homeroom teacher for my first year of high school at Nazareth. He was my introduction to high school, the Xaverian Brothers, and the growing up I would do over the next four years. He was real, funny, and unlike any of the nuns I had in elementary school.
He has done so much for students of his and their families. He was a role model, teacher and confident to many. He will be sorely missed. Rest In Peace Brother.
I had the joy of meeting Brother “Russell” (AKA Brother Tom Cully) in 1967 as a freshman in the Nazareth High School class of 1967 as a freshman. He started as my homeroom teacher and became an extended part of my Brooklyn, N.Y. Italian family, joining us at our home for many social, holiday, and plain old “Friday Night” gatherings. He was especially attached to my Dad and Mom, and many was the time he came for dinner and stayed long after I went out with my buddies. Never going home empty handed, … he loved my mother’s cooking and my father’s taste for beverage. Brother Tom, my dad , and I, a few times went out fishing to Long Island always doing well and having him going back to Nazareth, where he was in residence, with enough to feed all the Brothers. One of my favorite stories was of him, …”sneaking” my sister and four of her friends into a Johnny Maestro And The Brooklyn Bridge concert at Nazareth! I lost contact with him for many years when he was transferred to Bishop Ford H.S. About ten years ago, I was able to get back in touch with him through his Brother Charlie, also a Xaverian Brother, and we resumed our relationship. He became a member of our Nazareth High School “Class Of 1967” by association, and joined us at our 50th. anniversary celebration. For many years a group of ’67 alumni, have traveled to his home in the Catskills to celebrate his birthdays at his favorite… “watering hole” and I was fortunate to have visited with him one final time a few weeks ago at the nursing home. It was his first day out of bed and we had a great time visiting. It was apparent that even the nursing home staff recognized what a special man Thomas Cully was! I look back on all the stories… all the people he helped, what an inspiration he was to young adults stepping out into the world; … the spiritual and FINANCIAL help he gave to anyone who was in trouble; …. the joviality he exuded to anyone he was near …. his help on “THE PILE” at Twin Towers (which may have been a contributing factor in his demise),… his unfailing commitment to his Roman Catholic Faith, (he was praying The Rosary when I arrived at our visit a few weeks ago),… and most prominently, his unfailing caustic wit… to which we have all probably been exposed/assaulted by!!! …. Our world has suffered an immense loss! May Our Lord and Heavenly Father grant him eternal peace and …..GET READY FOR SOME TROUBLE!!!!
I knew Tom from St. Teresa of Avila Elementary School in Brooklyn and Boy Scouts. He was one of those older boys a child looks up too, an athletic, happy, friendly, congenial kid. From St. Teresa’s, Tom went to Brooklyn Prep before following his vocation to St. Joseph’s Juniorate in Peabody, Massachusetts, where we were again school mates. In that very small school of about forty boys, we were all close, studying, praying, working the farm and playing sports together. After high school, he preceded me to the novitiate, two of intense training in the basics of being Brothers. During this time, Tom sustained a leg injury that pained him for the rest of his life, though you wouldn’t know it seeing his agility and energy as a young man. His hospitalization interrupted his novitiate time. By the way, when he was in the hospital, he befriended Bobby, a quadriplegic teenage boy whom he kept in close contact with as Bobby lived. The delay made him part of the novitiate class of ’57, my classmate. Through college years we studied and worked together. After college, we lost contact with one another for the next thirty years, but in the past thirty years, we became closer than ever, in long visits at his home and elsewhere and long phone calls. Two old St. Teresa’s boys, two sons of immigrants from Donegal, Ireland, two older men with endless memories to relive together, two old friends. Goodbye to you, Tom, and to your little brother Charlie, C.F.X. whose hand I took from your mother as a Safety Patrol at Bedford Avenue and St. John’s Place. May you both extend a helping hand to me at my final crossing.