Tom Callahan

Hugh Thomas Callahan, 69, passed away on Dec. 4, 2010 at Westminster Canterbury in Virginia Beach, his residence since 2004.

He enjoyed literature, arts and travel, and he was an avid historian and photographer, and he was an active and faithful member of Community United Methodist Church in Virginia Beach. Tom (“Tommy” to family) was born on the Callahan family farm at Opie in Mecklenburg County to Eddie Lee Callahan Sr. and Mattie Sue Farrar Callahan on April 1, 1941. The youngest child in a family of seven, Tom was a loving and devoted son, brother and uncle, and a faithful shepherd of his family. Tom was a 1958 graduate of Park View High School in South Hill, and he held degrees from the University of Richmond (B.A., English) and the College of William and Mary and (M.A., Education). He served honorably in the U. S. Army in Puerto Rico from 1966 to 1971, where he taught English to Spanish-speaking soldiers, and returned to teach English at Deep Creek High School in Chesapeake. After retirement from Chesapeake Public Schools, he taught English at Tidewater Community College (Norfolk, campus) until 2008.

Tom was predeceased by his parents, brother E. L. “Pete” Callahan Jr. and sisters Katherine Vajda and Frances Summers.

He is survived by sisters Dorothy Fisher of Red Oak, N.C., Annie Laura Rice of Chesapeake, and Rose Elizabeth Callahan of Virginia Beach, five nephews, five nieces, and thirteen great nephews and nieces.

Tom Callahan at our 20th Reunion.