How does one communicate the essence of a life well-lived for Christ? Those who conduct funerals and memorial services for fellow believers must answer that question. But when the Rt. Rev. Gregory O. Brewer preached and celebrated the burial Eucharist for his longtime friend the Rev. Thomas “Tom” Comstock Seitz Jr., rector emeritus at Good Shepherd, Lake Wales, he had some help with his response.

When Good Shepherd’s current rector, the Rev. Tim Nunez, posted on Facebook to announce Seitz’s March 3 death, he said in part, “Fr. Tom was a highly effective priest and a wonderful man who faithfully used his extensive gifts to his utmost for the glory of God. He touched countless lives. Therefore, his loss is keenly felt by many.”

Seitz’s son and three brothers, two of whom are ordained Episcopal priests, all spoke at the service on Saturday morning, March 25, at Good Shepherd. Their words, which came before Brewer’s, all supported the bishop’s cogent summary of the Rev. Tom’s life: He was a good priest.

Mr. Peter Seitz told the story of a trip taken with his oldest brother just after his ordination in a car that would not drive in reverse gear, noting, “Tom spent his life driving forward. Reverse was not his strength. I suspect many of you experienced him at the wheel, steering you to a deeper relationship with Christ. … He would urge us to press forward despite his unexpected early exit to eternal life.”

The Rev. Canon Mark Seitz, another of Rev. Tom’s brothers, pointed to the motto of Christ School, the North Carolina preparatory school he, his father (The late Rev. Thomas C. Seitz Sr.) and his brothers all attended: “Successus Fidelitate: Faithfulness is Success.”

“Tom was a faithful son, a faithful brother, a faithful husband, a faithful father and as you well know, a faithful pastor and priest,” the Rev. Canon Mark said. “Not perfect, but faithful.”

The Rev. Canon Dr. Chris Seitz, second of the four Seitz brothers, said the Rev. Tom was “most alive; he was most himself in church, as you know, leading worship and being alongside others in the fellowship of Jesus Christ.”

And the Rev. Tom’s son, Mr. Thomas C. Seitz III, also emphasized his father’s faithful service to God in multiple areas of his life, including his long rectorate at Good Shepherd, saying, “When he passed into the eternal glory of God, he received that commendation for which he sought: ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant.’”

In honoring the Rev. Tom, Brewer pointed first to their shared years as students at Virginia Theological Seminary, describing him as a “tall, blond, fun-loving, diligent roustabout.” He shared poignant excerpts from “The Good Priest,” a recent article by the Very Rev. Sam Candler, dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, Georgia, explaining, “That’s what I think about Tom.”

“I think the power that has been described in all of the things that were said by his brothers and by his son – which all ring true to me, by the way – is he understood he was bearing something bigger than he was, and he was willing to undertake that kind of responsibility with all of the diligence and commitment that he could muster,” Brewer said.

“So beloved, give thanks for the eternal gifts that you have received from this good priest,” he concluded. “Learn from his example. Stay faithful to one another. Make the time to sit quietly and to listen to one another’s stories. Continue to hold one another up in prayer into that flow of intercession of which Tom is now an important part … And for that, and for what he showed us … in that great witness and example that he offered to family, to friends, to communities and to neighbors, we say to God, ‘Thank you, Lord, for all that you have so freely given us. Amen.’”

The Rev. Tom earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary. He was ordained a priest in The Episcopal Church in 1978, serving congregations in West Virginia, Virginia and Michigan before receiving a call in 1997 to Church of the Good Shepherd, where he served until his 2017 retirement, after which he was named rector emeritus. He served as president of the Lake Wales Rotary Club and as board member of All Saints Academy, Winter Haven, helping to design the school’s chapel.

While serving at Good Shepherd, he initiated a partnership with a congregation in Santa Maria, Honduras, El Buen Pastor, and led the effort to design and raise funds for the construction of their church building. He was an integral part of the board of directors for Camp Wingmann, Avon Park, for many years, presiding over the capital campaign to renovate the dining hall. He was also devoted to the Kairos Prison Ministry at Avon Park Correctional Institution and the daily practice of centering prayer.

The Rev. Tom leaves behind his wife of 44 years, Anna; his brothers, Chris, Mark and Peter; his children, Sarah, Katherine and Thomas; and his seven grandchildren: Anna, John Thomas, Henry, Benjamin, Francisca, Christopher and Sophia. View his obituary here, and watch the memorial service here. Memorial gifts may be directed to the Church of the Good Shepherd, 221 South Fourth Street, Lake Wales, FL 33853, designated to “Camp Wingmann” on the memo line.