Archimandrite Sophrony was an Orthodox Christian priest from the Monastery of St. John the Baptist at Tolleshunt Knights, Essex, England.
Fr. Aelred Squire was a Dominican priest from England. While writing to Merton, he lived as a hermit at St. Vith, Belgium. Later in life, he joined the Camaldolese in Big Sur, California.
Br. David Steindl-Rast is a Benedictine monk who has been a pioneer in Christian-Buddhist dialogue, renewal in of the monastic life and interest in spirituality. He was born and educated through the doctoral level in Austria and was born in Vienna. In 1952, he came with his family to the United States. Shortly afterward, he joined the new Benedictine monastery of Mount Saviour near Elmira, New York, founded by Merton's friend Dom Damasus Winzen. ("Br. David Steindl Rast". Website of Gratefulness.org. Accessed 25 May 2006. ‹http://www.gratefulness.org/brotherdavid/bio.htm›.)
Karl Stern was a psychiatrist and author writing from Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Fr. Clifford Stevens is a priest of the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, and author of a number of books on religion, religious history and morality. In the 1950's, he spent some time in seminary at the Trappist monastery of New Melleray in Iowa, but was disillusioned by changes in the order. He continued as a diocesan priest at other seminaries. During the 1960's, he served as an Air Force chaplain, writing to Merton from assignments in San Francisco, California, and from Itazuke, Japan, until 1969. After some assignments in New York and New Mexico, he has spent most of his life in Nebraska. In the 1980's, Stevens pursued his dream of founding a monastery with a purer ideal than he had seen in contemporary orders. He founded Tintern Monastery, a contemplative house of prayer, on a farm near Oakdale, Nebraska. He began with a group of previously ordained priests. Although many inquired about his monastery, few stayed, and the experiment was ended. (Source: "Clifford Stevens." Contemporary Authors Online. 2001. Thomson Gale. Bellarmine University Library. 26 May 2006 ‹http://galenet.galegroup.com›.)
B. J. Stiles was editor of «Motive» magazine and writes from Nashville, Tennessee. «Motive» magazine was a progressive publication and the official voice of the Methodist Student Movement. It was noted for its cutting edge graphic design and emphasis on the arts.
Mark Stone was a teacher from Olney High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvanian.
Rex Stout was chairman of the Authors Guild, Inc., and writes from New York.
Hudson Strode was an author and professor of English at University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Arthur Hays Sulzberger was Chairman of the Board of «The New York Times» and its former publisher.
Edmund Supro writes from Clarksburg, West Virginia. He spent some time at a Trappist monastery, most likely at Gethsemani Abbey as a novice under Merton, writing that he was "formerly Frater Florian O.C.S.O.").
Dom Angélico Surchamp was a Benedictine monk of La Pierre-qui-Vire Abbey and founder of the Romanesque art periodical «Zodiaque», "Atelier du Coeur Meurtry." He writes from Yonne, France.
Daisetz T. Suzuki was one of the most influential scholars in bringing Zen Buddhism to the West. He was born in Kanazawa, Japan. He taught at universities in Europe, Japan and the United States. Merton rarely traveled during his years at Gethsemani Abbey, but received permission in 1964 to visit Suzuki at Columbia University in New York. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», pp. 560-561.)
Richard Taplinger was head of Taplinger Publishing Company in New York.
Domenico Cardinal Tardini was an Italian priest who held high positions in the Roman Catholic Curia during the tenure of Pope Pius XII and was later elevated to cardinal and Secretary of State of the Vatican under Pope John XXIII in 1958.
Sr. Thomais writes from the Sat Tal Ashram (Sattal Ashram), a Christian ashram in Nainital, India.
Frances Tiller had been writing to Thomas Merton before making a visit to Gethsemani Abbey with her husband, the Rev. Thomas Tiller and their children around September of 1964. They were living in Jackson, Mississippi, and were friends of another of Merton's acquaintances there, Msgr. Josiah G. Chatham.
Paul Tillich was German-born Protestant theologian whose books on systematic theology were among the most influential in theological circles of the 20th Century. He was ordained a Lutheran minister and served as a chaplain in the German army during World War I. He was against this war and he came to realize that the Christian principles underpinning society were under attack. A fierce critic of the Nazi regime, he was one of the first non-Jewish professors to be expelled from a German university. He went to the United States and spent the rest of his career with professorships at Union Theological Seminary, Harvard University, and University of Chicago. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», pp. 575-576.)
Joseph Tjo Tchel-Oung was from Holy Ghost College in Seoul, Korea.
Richard Tobin was Managing Editor of the «Saturday Review» at the time of writing to Merton. He writes from New York.
John M. Todd was publisher from Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd. in London, England. His secretary, Virginia Johnstone, sends Merton a reply.
Lucille Tomei was from New York. She writes postcards to Merton while traveling in Germany and Austria.
Thomas Merton's letter to this recipient addresses her as "Miss Tower." She had sent Merton a copy of a new book by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sr. Jane Tully was a Maryknoll Missionary from Mwanza, Tanzania.
Sr. Lucille was a Religious Sister of Mercy writing from Clymer, New York, at the time of writing to Merton. She later left the religious life and resumed her birth name, Mary Turner.
Dom Wilfred Upson (born John Henry Neil Upson) was, at the time of writing to Dom James Fox, Abbot of Prinknash Abbey (Our Lady and St. Peter at Prinknash), a Benedictine monastery in Gloucestershire, England. Upson first entered monastic life as an Anglican with the community of monks led by Aelred Carlyle on Caldey Island. After a conflict with the Church of England, the community converted en masse to Catholicism. Caldey Island was later sold to Cistercian monks in 1928, and the community moved to Gloucestershire. Upson was elected first abbot in 1937 and served in that position until 1961. Merton would be in contact with another Anglican-convert who would become Catholic at Prinknash, Bede Griffiths (Merton and Griffiths having been in contact during Griffith's later years at his monastery in India). (Source: "A Monk and His Movies." 23 October 2013. Accessed 5 August 2020. ‹https://darklanecreative.com/a-monk-and-his-movies-2/›.)
Georgette de Vallejo was born Georgette Marie Philippart in Paris in 1908. She married poet and author César Vallejo in 1934. Widowed by César's death in 1938, she would later write some biographical works and compile some anthologies of her late husband and his works in the 1960's and 1970's.
José Maria Valverde was a poet born in Valencia de Alcántara, Spain. At the time of writing to Merton, he was a professor at University of Barcelona. He was the administrator of the publisher Eler.
Sr. M. Verenice was a Sister of St. Joseph from Nazareth, Michigan.
Virginia Vigrass was a volunteer teacher at the Quakers' Friends Girls School in Ramallah, Jordan (currently in the West Bank of the Palestinian Territories). She was originally from Cleveland, Ohio, and had been in Ramallah for a year.
Fr. Chrysogonus Waddell is a Trappist monk of Gethsemani Abbey who was studying in Rome at the time of this correspondence.
Dom Eusebius Wagner was Abbot of New Clairvaux Abbey in Vina, California.
Fr. Benedict Wallis was a Carthusian monk of Le Grande Chartreuse in France.
Tony Walsh was the founder of the Benedict Labre House in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was born in Paris, France, to Irish parents and was raise in England and Scotland. After some military service in France during and after World War I, he came to Canada and worked with Native American schools. He worked with the Legion War Services from 1942-1946. After some time of travel and study, he returned to found the Labre House. The members of the house serve the needs of the urban poor. Many early members had experience in the Catholic Worker Movement, and like that group, published a newspaper. The Labre House called theirs «Unity». In 1990, Walsh received Canada's highest civilian honor, the Order of Canada. (Source: "The Teacher: Anthony Walsh." 2004. Website of the Osoyoos Museum. Accessed at the Bellarmine University Library 28 Aug. 2006. ‹http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Inkameep/english/teacher/›.)
Edmund Wasserman, nicknamed "Cap" or "Cappy" by Merton, was a former Gethsemani monk known as Fr. John of the Cross. He entered the monastery in 1948 and studied under Merton. He was a close friend of Merton, but left in late 1962. Merton became close to Wasserman's family, becoming like an adopted son to his parents. Merton wrote extensively to Wasserman's sister, Ann, who joined the Carmelites in Cleveland, taking the name of Sr. Anita of Jesus. (Source: "John of the Cross Wasserman." «International Thomas Merton Society Newsletter», Vol. 16, No. 1. [Louisville, KY: International Thomas Merton Society, 2009], p. 3.)
Edmund Wasserman (Senior) was married to Margaret (Peg) Wasserman. They were the parents of Merton's friends, Sr. Anita (Ann) and Edmund (Junior, whom Merton called "Cappy" or "Cap"). Edmund (Junior) was at Gethsemani Abbey with Merton for many years before leaving in 1963 and was known there as Fr. John of the Cross. Edmund Wasserman (Senior) died in 1962.
Margaret (Peg) Wasserman was married to Edmund Wasserman (Senior). They were the parents of Merton's friends, Sr. Anita (Ann) and Edmund (Junior, whom Merton called "Cappy" or "Cap"). Edmund (Junior) was at Gethsemani Abbey with Merton for many years before leaving in 1963 and was known there as Fr. John of the Cross.
Will Watkins writes from San Francisco, California.
Robert B. Watson wrote to Merton from New York. He was a doctor who had spent nearly ten years in Brazil and responds to Merton's writings in the «Sewanee Review» on Brazilian poetry.
Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966), famous British author and satirist, was a convert to Catholicism in 1930 and served as a mentor to Merton in his early career as a writer.
Fr. Benet Weatherhead was a Dominican priest from Blackfriars in Cambridge, England. He briefly served as editor of «Blackfriars».
Abbie Jane Wells writes from Juneau, Alaska. She would later write the book, «The Gospel According to Abbie Jane Wells: A Sampler».
Joel Wells was editor of «The Critic», published by the Thomas More Association of Chicago, Illinois. He has gone on to write many books concerning Catholicism, humor and social commentary.
Raphael Jehudah Zwi Werblowsky is a scholar of comparative religion. He was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1924. He taught at Manchester and Leeds Universities in England before going to Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1962.
Victor Weybright writes on behalf of the New American Library of World Literature.
Jo Anne White was secretary to John Ciardi, poetry editor of the «Saturday Review». She writes from New York.
Dom James R. (Samson) Wicksteed was editor of «Cistercian Studies» and writes from the Abbey, Caldey Island, in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
C. Dickerman Williams was an attorney from New York who helped Merton to find a lawyer in Louisville to assist him with his literary estate. He wrote a letter to Louisville attorney Wilson W. Wyatt.
John R. Williams was an assistant professor of English at Southeastern Louisiana College in Hammond, Louisiana.
Robert Lawrence Williams was, at the time of writing to Merton, a tenor vocalist. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but writes to Merton from Boston, Massachusetts, and later from New York. He served as president of the Foundation for African Students of Brighton, Massachusetts. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 587.)
William Carlos Williams was a poet, novelist, playwright and essayist from Rutherford, New Jersey, where he also maintained a pediatric medical practice. (Source: «The Courage for Truth», p. 289.)