Duluth, Minnesota (OpEdNews) February
29, 2024: I see this admittedly modest article as the third installment in my
series of OEN articles that begin with the words "Thomas J. Farrell on":
(1) "Thomas J. Farrell on Walter J. Ong, S.J." (dated November 7, 2023): Click Here
(2) "Thomas J. Farrell on Thomas J.
Farrell" (dated November 17, 2023): Click Here
Because these two earlier OEN
articles were as well received as they were, I decided to write one further
installment to round out this series of OEN articles: "Thomas J. Farrell
on Drafting His Own Obituary" - even though I have not yet died:
Draft of Obituary of Thomas J.
Farrell
Thomas J. Farrell, educator and
author, died on [fill in the date] in Duluth, Minnesota, from [fill in cause of
death]. He was professor emeritus in writing studies at the University of Minnesota
Duluth, where he taught from 1987 to 2009. He
also taught English at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park for nine
years, the City College of the City University of New York for one year (1975-1976),
and Rockhurst College (now Rockhurst University) in Kansas City, Missouri, for
two years. He was born on March 17, 1944, in Ossining, New York, his father's
hometown. But he was raised and went to school in Kansas City, Kansas, his mother's
hometown. In September 1964, Thomas transferred as a junior to Saint Louis
University (SLU), the Jesuit university in St. Louis, Missouri,
where he received his B.A. (1966), M.A.(T.) in English (1968), and Ph.D. in
education (1974). On October 12, 1964, he heard the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther
King speak on the SLU campus, and on March 25, 1965, he heard Dr. King speak
again at the culmination of his march on Montgomery, Alabama. Over a period of
ten years (1969-1979), Thomas taught about one thousand black inner-city youth
and about an equal number of white youth in the context of open admissions in
the City of St. Louis (for nine years) and in New York City (for one year,
1975-1976 - the most memorable year of Thomas's life). For a period of time (1979-1987),
Thomas was in the Jesuit order. Later, in 2000, Thomas published a book-length
study of the work of the American Jesuit cultural historian and media ecology
theorist Walter J. Ong of Saint Louis University, titled "Walter Ong's
Contributions to Cultural Studies: The Phenomenology of the Word and I-Thou
Communication" -- which received the Marshall McLuhan Award for Outstanding
Book in the Field of Media Ecology in 2001, conferred by the Media Ecology
Association. Thomas also co-edited five collections of Ong's essays, supplying
introductory essays in four of them; co-edited and contributed to two collections
of essays about Ong's work; and contributed essays to two other collections of
essays about Ong's work. Thomas is survived by two sisters; three nieces and
two nephews; and three grandnieces and three grandnephews.
Some Further Reflections
For further information about my
life, see my OEN article "Thomas J. Farrell on Thomas J. Farrell" (dated
November 17, 2023), mentioned above.
For further information about Ong,
see my OEN article "Thomas J. Farrell on Walter J. Ong, S.J." (dated November
7, 2023), mentioned above.
Now, one reason why my year of
living and working in New York City (1975-1976) was so memorable is that New
York City went bankrupt -- and we did not receive our May paychecks (until many
years later).
Another reason is that on July 4,
1976, I watched the Tall Ships sailing up and down the Hudson River. I was born
in a hospital on the banks of the Hudson River in Ossining, New York, my father's
hometown. Ossining is where Sing Sing Prison is located. My paternal
grandfather's home was located only a couple of blocks down the street from
Sing Sing Prison. However, at the time of my birth, my father was in the Army
and was stationed in England as part of the troop build up there for the D-Day
invasion of Normandy.
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Thomas James Farrell is professor emeritus of writing studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). He started teaching at UMD in Fall 1987, and he retired from UMD at the end of May 2009. He was born in 1944. He holds three degrees from Saint Louis University (SLU): B.A. in English, 1966; M.A.(T) in English 1968; Ph.D.in higher education, 1974. On May 16, 1969, the editors of the SLU student newspaper named him Man of the Year, an honor customarily conferred on an administrator or a faculty member, not on a graduate student -- nor on a woman up to that time. He is the proud author of the book (more...)
