Reverend Thomas J. Carroll was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on 1909 August 6. He graduated from Gloucester High School in 1928 and went on to study Greek, Latin, and Philosophy at The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. After graduation in 1932, Carroll decided to become a Roman Catholic priest. He studied at St. John's Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts and was ordained in 1938.

Carroll's first assignment in the Boston archdiocese was as Assistant Director of the Catholic Guild for the Blind. Remaining assistant director of the guild, he also served as an auxiliary chaplain at Avon Old Farms Convalescent Hospital in Connecticut and at the Valley Forge General Hospital in Pennsylvania from 1944 to 1949. In 1947, he became Director of the Catholic Guild for the Blind.

As director of the guild, Carroll initiated several programs to improve services for the blind. One of Carroll's concerns was that of safety. Having worked with Dr. Richard Hoover, the developer of the long cane, Carroll brought the idea of using a "safe traveling" long cane to the Guild in 1952 and in 1954, he established St. Paul's Rehabilitation Center for the Blind. In 1961, he published his book, Blindness: What it is, What it Does, and How to Live with It. In 1963, he founded the American Center for Research and Blindness and in 1965 he established St. Raphael's Geriatric Adjustment Center. St. Raphael's and St. Paul's merged in 1973 due to lack of funding. Carroll served as a member of the National Advisory of Neurological Diseases and Blindness Council from 1964 to 1971 and as a member of the Department of Health Education, Welfare, and National Advisory Council on Vocational Rehabilitation from 1959 to 1963. Carroll received many awards for his work with the blind. He also wrote several articles about blindness, contributing especially to the periodical Listen.

In addition to his responsibilities as Director of the Catholic Guild for the Blind, Carroll was very active within the Archdiocese of Boston and the National Liturgical Conference. Carroll was also a member of the board of directors for the Sacramental Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Boston from 1947 to 1965, and a delegate of the International Congress on Pastoral Liturgy in 1956.

The Reverend Thomas J. Carroll died suddenly on 1971 April 24. The Catholic Guild for the Blind was renamed The Carroll Rehabilitation Center for the Visually Impaired in Carroll's honor in 1972.

Sources: The Carroll Center for the Blind [http://www.carroll.org]. March2004.Carroll, Thomas J. Blindness: WhatIt Is, What It Does, and How to Live with It. Boston: Little, Brown& Company, 1961. The New York Times Obituaries. Special to the New York Times. New York, N.Y.: Apr25, 1971. p. 71. Muldoon, John F., ed. Essays onBlindness Rehabilitation in honor of Thomas J. Carroll: afestschrift. New York: American Foundation for the Blind, c.1990.