Deacon Mel Dunphy

       Deacon Mel Dunphy was born and brought up in Vermont. He graduated from Waterbury High School in Vermont. He attended Boston University prior to enlisting in the United States Navy for four years during the Korean War. Later he served seven years as a medical officer in the United States Army Reserve. He received a B.S. degree from the University of Vermont and a M.S. degree from Stetson University.

       He began his career in education as an elementary school principal in Vermont. He later taught secondary school and college mathematics in Massachusetts and served as a secondary school principal in Massachusetts and later in Vermont. He studied for the permanent diaconate in the Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts and was ordained there by Bishop Harrington in 1979. His first assignment was at Immaculate Heart Church in Winchendon, Massachusetts where Father Pelletier was his first pastor. He then served seven years in the Diocese of Burlington, Vermontand has been serving at St. Thomas Aquinas since 1994.

      Deacon Mel and his wife Shirley, now deceased, are parents of eight children and fourteen grandchildren. He has baptized most of his grandchildren. He finds much reward and many blessings from serving the Lord and the people of this parish. It is his pleasure to serve us.