By Nancy Stowe Inui (LAH board member and former LAH president)
This Spring LAH celebrates Tom Dahill on his 99th birthday. Tom has been on the LAH board for 52 years and counting, from 1972 to present, and served as LAH board president from 1991-2005. Tom is a man of many interests and skills. In his 99 years he has been an aerial navigator over the Pacific Ocean as a second lieutenant in WWII, a painter, a teacher of fine art and art history, a persistent traveler as an individual or with friends and also a faculty member of Emerson College Summer School in Europe, and has been active in the community, often sharing and supporting with his art, in organizations that include First & Second Church Boston, the St Botolph Club, the Middlesex Canal Museum and the Lend A Hand Society.
Tom retired a professor emeritus from Emerson College after decades of teaching, creating programs and chairing the fine arts department. He made the choice to return from Europe, settle in his home in Arlington and support himself – to the benefit of his colleagues and students – through teaching. But his real love was painting and his academic career always took time away from his studios.
He also swam laps every morning at 5 am. From that practice came not only good health but an early morning community, the members of which wrote contributions to a little booklet. Besides the booklet, he wrote science fiction. The last time I visited him, he was waiting for FedEx to deliver a box of his just published sci-fi book. He illustrated the book, The Incredible Ditch, about the Middlesex Canal and serves on the board of its museum. He carried a notebook and pencil with him always, including on the subway and in restaurants, and sketched the surrounding scenes and people. For many years his sketch of the Edward Everett Hale statue in the Public Garden graced LAH materials.
Tom had the pivotal role in beginning the ongoing transformation of Lend A Hand from its 19th century roots to an organization using digital tools. In fact, he brought in the first Apple computer to the office. The executive secretary at the time kept accounts through manual bookkeeping and handwritten records.
Even after he stepped down as president of Lend A Hand, Tom attended Lend A Hand board meetings regularly. He loved making and presenting unique watercolor cards honoring a departing board member. We cherish all that he has given Lend A Hand in his long and fascinating life.