Date of death: 9/27/2019
Saint Meinrad Class: O 1960
Rev. Fr. Thomas E. Fox, 85, of Lafayette, passed away at Creasy Springs Healthcare Center in Lafayette Friday evening Sept 27, 2019. Fr. Fox was born in Monterey, IN August 20, 1934, the son of the late Fred W. and Elizabeth (Winter) Fox. He was a graduate of Our Lady of the Lake Seminary, attending four years of high school and two years of seminary there. The following six years were spent at St. Meinrad School of Theology at St. Meinrad, IN. He was ordained May 28, 1960 at Lafayette’s Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception by then Bishop (later Cardinal) John L. Carberry and celebrated his first Mass at St. Anne’s Church in Monterey.
He served as assistant pastor from 1960 to 1964 at St. Vincent DePaul Church in Logansport, and on the faculty at Central Catholic High School in Lafayette from 1964 to 1976. In 1970, he was named assistant principal and business administrator at Lafayette Central Catholic. That year he also served as administrator of St. Ann Church, Kewanna.
From 1970 to 1976, he doubled as administrator at St. Elizabeth Church, Lucerne. In 1976, Bishop Raymond Gallagher asked Fr. Fox to oversee the construction of a new St. Cecilia Church in DeMotte. He was pastor there for eight years.
Also in 1976, Fr. Fox was named treasurer of the Lafayette Clergy Relief Association, a benefit fund designed to provide income to retired diocesan priests and served in that capacity for 26 years. In 1984 he returned to Lafayette, as pastor of St. Ann’s Church. During his tenure there, 1984 to 1995, the parish hall was remodeled and the Matthew 25 Share and Care Soup Kitchen ministry grew.
In 1995 he was named Pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Remington until he retired in July 2012. Fr. Fox was a charter member of the DeMotte Rotary Club, and had served as both treasurer and president. He was named a Sagamore of the Wabash by then Governor Evan Bayh May 30, 1990.
Surviving are five brothers, Carl Fox (Mary) of Plymouth, IN; Donald Fox of Logansport, IN; Richard Fox (Judy) of Plymouth, IN; Kenneth Fox (Ruth) of Plymouth, IN; James Fox (Wanda) of Rochester, IN and a sister, Rose Ann Master (Karl, Jr.) of Monterey, IN; special friend John “Jack” Fagen of DeMotte, IN along with many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by six brothers, Ralph, Lloyd, Theodore, Clement, Paul, and Robert Fox, and a sister, Mary Ziegler.