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Father Tom Composto, our local priest who lived at the Saint Francis Center (1 block east of RHHP) for the past 47 years, died in his sleep yesterday at the University of Maryland Hospital. He complained of not feeling well a couple of Sundays ago before mass. We suggested that he cancel the service and get some rest. Later in the week he went to see his doctor and was immediately hospitalized. We visited him on Sunday at the intensive care unit but he was sedated but we thought he looked well. Ellen received an email this morning from the director of St. Francis center informing her that Fr. Tom had passed away in his sleep.
I will miss his presence in the neighborhood when he was out and about on his daily walks with his dog Vicky. It was comforting to know that he kept an eye on things on the streets and he knew the goings on in the neighborhood. I will also miss his short masses and three minute homilies. The services were informal and intimate. He had a weird (and irreverent) humor and a maniacal laugh which punctuated the liturgy.
He was a man of faith and conviction who believed in justice and stood by Reservoir Hill right through the blighted years while those with the means moved away to safer neighborhoods. I regret that I did not have the chance to learn more about his life in Reservoir Hill through the 60's and 70's. That would have been fascinating.
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3/17/11; My dear brother John, influenced my family to get involved in the pioneering days of Fr. Tom's St. Francis Neighborhood Center. Revamping the basement in 1970 of 936 into a pure, believable-pleasent chapel for worship, a comfortable center upstairs for under appreciated families of 'Whitelock' that were not getting community breaks, not getting some standard doses of kindness and not an ability to get out of the neighborhood for a social service. Johnny and Fr. Tom did hard work to give the neighborhood a safe haven for those who wanted to but previously were uncomfortable to trust and believe someone cared. Tom allowed me to do trade carpentry, wallcovering and tiling(things my dad got for the center) to spruce-things-up and that interaction with Tom was a tremendous influence on me loving the trades that was which my dad was good at. Many wonderful gatherings for each holiday, for many many years of which my entire family joined, was filed into that building. We'd eat with the best of the city's influencial families=men of great city importance-foundation donors, who saw the greatness in the drive-endearing quality of giving that Fr. Tom (The Pope of Whitelock) had. I'm sorry I delayed in inviting him to spend a vacation this winter here in Florida with my family; GOD knows I'm sorry.
"It really makes me wonder...."
SteveTaylor.
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