Thomas Joseph Ward

Thomas Joseph Ward passed away at the age of sixty on May 17, 2019 in his home in Brunswick, Georgia after a well-lived life filled with family and friends. Beloved son, brother, nephew, colleague, and friend, he will be sorely missed and forever in our hearts and memories. Thomas is fondly remembered for his strong, steadfast love, loyalty, and caring support for family, friends, and colleagues; his passions; his ability to have fun; his hardworking competence and diligence at accomplishing difficult tasks; his ability to keep going in the face of hardship; his independence; his curiosity; his search for real relationships for peoples with whom he came into contact, and his search for knowledge and growth. Everyone who knew him remembers him for his talents and passions: world class cooking, gardening, sailing, kayaking, traveling, voracious reading, meeting and truly understanding new peoples, trying new things (he even tried his hand at sculpture), collecting (comics, stamps, outsider art, books, cook books). He loved exploring his Irish and Southern heritage. Even his email handle tells something about him: tomato gravy. His personality, passions, travels, and relationships made him a world class storyteller.

Thomas was born the youngest of the four Ward siblings to Mary Rose Love and Hugh Campbell Ward in St. Vincent’s Hospital in Jacksonville. He grew up there, attending Christ the King Catholic Church and School where his mother was a teacher, librarian, and eventually the principal. He attended Bishop Kenny Catholic High School where he played soccer and made many friends. After graduating in 1976, he lived with his brother, Hugh, in Sebring while he attended South Florida Junior College before going on to the University of Florida where he received a degree in Film Studies in the early 1980’s. His first professional jobs after college were video production jobs in which he filmed surgical procedures for the purposes of instruction for other physicians. He worked first for Neuman Eye Clinic, and then in St. Petersburg for a dentist who did facial reconstruction of cancer patients. He eventually left because he was grieving over the deaths of patients with whom he had worked closely and bonded. In the 1980’s and early 90’s, Thomas worked in Maryland for the Dept. of the Navy and in Washington, D.C. for the Dept. of Defense, even getting his picture taken in the Vice-President’s office. He bought and refurbished a beautiful sailboat and enjoyed sailing. Needing a change and a challenge, he returned to Florida, moving around to stay and work with friends and family, including his sister, Katie; cousin, Jimmy Pope, and friend, Tom Shands. During this time he experimented like Thoreau on Walden Pond: he spent a year on Lake Brooklyn in Keystone Heights in a camper he bought as a challenge to see how cheaply he could live. He got the expense down to six dollars a day. He loved baseball, and during this time often attended the Jacksonville Suns games with Katie, Tom Shands, or Jimmy Pope. Ready to move back into professional life in April, 1999, he worked for the Dept. of the Army and was stationed in Puerto Rico for three years, moving next to Memphis to work for the Navy Recruiting Command, Visual Information Division. Missing living near the ocean and savannahs, he returned in September of 2003 to work for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), U.S. Department of Homeland Security as Television Producer/Director in the Media Support Division. Thomas retired in December of 2018.

Thomas grew up in a loving family immersed in the life of Christ the King Catholic Church in Jacksonville, Florida. His mother, Mary Ward, was teacher, librarian, and principal, from whom he learned leadership and devotion. He learned mechanical and building skills by helping his father, Hugh Ward, who was an award winning, airplane and helicopter mechanic and supervisor at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida, and a homebuilder on the side. If it was mechanical, everyone knew that Mr. Ward could fix it. He learned patriotism from both parents, who were in the military in WWII. His father was in the Navy and served in the Pacific Theatre. His mother was a dental hygienist in the Waves. Hugh and Mary became life-long friends with two other veteran families, the Damato family and the Marseilles family. Thomas called them Aunts and Uncles, and all of the children are like family. Thomas became a world traveler in his personal and professional life. He visited exciting places and the places of his heritage having exciting adventures: Appalachian mountains, France, Ireland, Machu Picchu, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the American West, Indian Reservations, the U.S./Mexico border, and many other places around the world. He took flying lessons, learned to sail, flew off of an aircraft carrier, landed on one, experimented with sculpture, befriended artists and collected their art, and became a world class chef.

Thomas is predeceased by his parents, Hugh and Mary Ward, and his brother Patrick Ward. He is survived by his brother, Hugh Ward, Jr. (Holly) of Deland, Florida; his sister, Kathleen Ward Van Zile (Frank) of Jacksonville, Fla.; his nephew, Hugh Ward, III of St. Augustine, Fla.; his niece, Mary Love Ward of Jacksonville, Fla.; and his uncle, Jerry Gordon (Blon) of Blue Ridge, Georgia, and many, many cousins in the U.S. and Ireland.

On Friday, June 7, a Friends and Family Gathering and Reception for Thomas will be held at Edo Miller and Sons Funeral Home at 3321 Glynn Avenue, Brunswick, Georgia 31520. (Go to www.edomillerandsons.com for obituary and to share reflections and condolences.) The Gathering will be from 4:30 to 6:30 with a reception first and a Remembrance Service in the Chapel at 5:30 to 6:30 (where friends are welcomed to tell their stories of Thomas). Visitors may come and leave at any time. The next day, Saturday, June 8, there will be a Funeral Mass at Christ the King Catholic Church at 742 Arlington Road, Jacksonville, Florida 32211 at 10:00 a.m. with Father James Boddie officiating. A reception will follow at the Florida Yacht Club at 5210 Yacht Club Road, Jacksonville, Florida 32210 from 1:00 until 3:00. In lieu of flowers, please contribute to a charity of your choice or to Christ the King Catholic Church.