This past August, shortly before his Sept. 14 passing at the age of 87, Brigantine’s Knights of Columbus Council 7020 (Saint Thomas Parish) re-named its retail store after Tom Park, beloved in Brigantine as a Past Grand Knight and District Deputy of the council and longtime volunteer in the community.
The three-year-old store re-sells donated items such as furniture and fishing gear, with proceeds going to local organizations and individuals such as the House of Charity, Catholic school students and food banks.
“Tom was a dynamic and wonderful Catholic man,” recalled Jim Robbins, current Grand Knight of 7020, adding that Park was the reason he himself joined the order. “He meant so much to the Knights, and to this island,” Robbins said.
A Philadelphia native, Park served his country as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force before becoming a fixture in Brigantine for almost 40 years.
At Saint Thomas, he helped resurrect a Knights of Columbus council that now includes 156 men, and was active as a Eucharistic Minister and with the Saint Dismas Prison Ministry. In the greater community, he worked with the Community Presbyterian Church’s True Spirit Coalition.
According to his obituary, he has a Brigantine street named after him — Tom Park Place — and the city declared that from now on, May 7 (his birthday) will be Tom Park Day.
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