By Father Charles Hammond
I cannot describe in words the many hearts he touched during 43 years of Priestly service (half as a religious order priest, and half as a diocesan priest) in rural Southern Mexico, Texas, and Michigan.
He died a peaceful and natural death at the age of 75 on May 8, 2024.
On a personal note and speaking on behalf of Todd, whose friendship I shared for 57 years in mutual formation and ministry, we expressed our deep gratitude for the privilege of being able to serve in the Diocese of Saginaw from 1998 to 2019 at the gracious invitation of Bishop Kenneth Untener.
I would characterize his priestly ministry as serving the church with faithfulness and integrity in the spirit of the original apostles following in the footsteps of JESUS and of St. Paul.
He embodied Bishop Ken Untener’s summary of the Christian life, “Come the kingdom, the only thing that matters is how we treated one another.”
Many of our years were spent in the thumb, the “Galilee of Saginaw” as we called it. Our little motto was, “fun in the thumb.” We were truly blessed by the people we served, the “salt of the earth” as Father Randy Kelly called them.
Father Todd had a noble character, a simplicity of life born of compassion of the poor, a sense of humor that was dry, and down to earth.
He was a dedicated and faithful friend and pastor.
His favorite motto the last few months was, “the best is yet to come.”