Fr David Strong SJ, The Australian dictionary of Jesuit biography 1848-2015, Second Edition, 2017:
Lees, Thomas

Missionary; born Melbourne, 18 March 1926; died Melbourne, 3 February 2014; aged 87.

Thomas Lees' family ran a milk bar in Brunswick, which helped them survive the Great Depression. As a result they were able to send their son to St Patrick’s College, East Melbourne, a day school for less affluent families, where he was experienced as available, generous, encouraging and simply good fun. Lees entered the Society at Loyola College, Watsonia, 1 February 1943, at the age of 16. All his ecclesiastical studies were in Australia, with his regency at St Patrick’s College, 1950-52, where he taught geography, coached sport and was director of a group called 'Young Catholic Students'.

After ordination in 1956, and tertianship the following year, Lees was assigned to the Hazaribag Mission in India, and the community of St Xavier's School. There he was given a number of administrative jobs: treasurer, minister, manager, all of which he carried out with great responsibility. He managed everything: he did the accounts, was a methodical and cheerful geography teacher, made sure there were supplies for the 400 boarders, arranged buses and railway carriages to return the boarders to their homes, and paid the staff. All this was accomplished quietly in the background.

In 1972 he was appointed vicar general of the newly established diocese of Daltanganj, which covered the whole of the Jesuit Mission of Hazaribag. Bishop George Saupin SJ was an exemplary pastor who left all the administrative tasks of the diocese to Lees, including the supervision of the construction of the bishop’s residence. After eight years as vicar, Lees was asked to take care of the pre-noviciate and spent the remaining years of his time in India teaching and forming young Indians in Sitagarah and Shahpur.

In 1988, after 30 years in India, Lees was asked to return to Australia and manage the Jesuit Mission Office in Melbourne. Once again he became the administrator who quietly and devotedly carried out the tasks assigned to him. As mission director he called upon his friends, students and companions from his days at St Patrick’s College and they responded with great generosity. He became the quiet manager, but behind the quiet, even shy persona, was a Jesuit who cared for people who needed an encouraging word. In 1996 he was appointed superior of the provincial community in Hawthorn and was well known for hospitality, especially appreciated by visiting missioners from Hazaribag, for his devotion to prayer, and for his readiness to celebrate Mass wherever and whenever he was called upon.

While not talking much about himself, he was observed to have a love of classical music and the garden at the provincial residence. He undertook long interstate drives for Jesuit Mission functions, and loved long walks. He was in regular attendance at the annual Anglesea villa over Christmas.

There were harder things he was asked to endure during his life. One was that his father died and was buried at sea when returning from visiting Lees in India with his wife. He was also involved in three serious road accidents. The first was when a regent at St Patrick’s, and the car in which he was in with other members of the community rolled over on the road to Geelong. Then there was the bus that turned over in the middle of the jungle near Chandwa and ended up on its roof. The third was the most serious when, on his way to a refugee camp on the border with Bangladesh, the jeep he was travelling in rolled over and he was thrown out and almost killed. He was airlifted to Patna where he was cared for at the Holy Family Hospital. During convalescence at Bokaro Steel City, apart from his physio exercises, he taught classes in the school, and was outstanding in his relationship with the students.

Finally, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. His disease gradually took over his body, and as a consequence, in 2009, was moved to St Joseph’s Nursing Home, Northcote, where he remained a much-loved patient for five years, enjoying the visits of his many friends.

Lees will be remembered for his warmth and gentleness, his quiet presence, his hard work without fuss, and above all, for his obvious faith. He loved much and was much loved.

(Reproduced by permission of Fr David Strong SJ.)