His parents were Roman Catholic and his father a member of a railroad union, two critical influences on Tom Gaudette's later development as a community organizer.
An important reason for the success of Alinsky and the Back of the Yards Council was the strong support of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chicago, with its advocacy of social activism.
Auxiliary Bishop Bernard Sheil championed Alinsky's work in the Back of the Yards, and such other notable Chicago Roman Catholic Church leaders as Cardinal Samuel Stritch and Monsignor John Egan would continue to provide him with invaluable moral and financial support.
Active in their Roman Catholic parish, Tom and Kay Gaudette's involvement in the Christian Family Movement led to their joining the Chatham-Avalon Park Community Council in 1957.
Tom Gaudette emerged as a leader of this organization, serving as its president and spokesman in fights over such issues as zoning restrictions and controls on taverns in Chatham-Avalon Park.
Through his work in these areas, Gaudette met Father Egan, who, as head of the Chicago Archdiocesan Conservation Council concerned with integration, was beginning his rise in the ranks of Roman Catholic social activism.
Impressed with Guadette's character and leadership abilities, Egan believed him the right person to organize an area that the monsignor had targeted for such work: Chicago's West Town, a Polish-American community.
Egan responded by raising money for the project from the archdiocese and sending Gaudette to Alinsky to interview for the position of organizer for West Town.
Chicago would remain his base of operations, even after Tom Gaudette founded the Mid-America Institute for Community Development in 1972, the same year that Alinsky died.
Dancing, singing, fighting, taking care of each other, helping each other out.Various documents related to Thomas A. Gaudette are archived at Loyola Marymount University as part of its Center for the Study of Los Angeles collection.