Thomas V. Mixon

Thomas Vancen Mixon of Pearland, Texas passed away after a brief illness at the age of 93 on October 28, 2024 in the VA Hospital at the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

The fourth of five children, Tom was born on September 25, 1931 in Bellaire, Texas to William J. and Bessie B. Mixon. As a young boy, Tom loved to ride his horse Blue and dreamed of becoming a jockey. He even ran away from home, jumping a freight train to West Texas where he found work on a horse ranch training race horses, until his father fetched him home. In 1946, he and his brother Dub, riding on

horseback, drove several head of cattle and horses and four goats to the new family home in South Houston.

At the age of 17, with his mother’s consent, Tom enlisted in the United States Marine Corp. He went through boot camp at Camp Pendleton in Southern California. Two years later he saw action as a machine gunner in the Korean War and celebrated his 19th birthday in Seoul, South Korea. On November 27, 1950, he survived the brutal Battle of the Chosin Reservoir and became one of the “Chosin Frozen,” a distinction he was proud of for the rest of his life. Suffering extreme frostbite in both his feet and hands, Tom spent the next year in rehab stateside before completing his service in Hawaii.

While in California, Tom entertained the idea of becoming a stuntman in cowboy movies and TV shows. He became an expert at fast draw, gun twirling and trick shooting.

Returning to the Houston area, Tom ran a shooting range for the Marines while in the reserves, ending a decade long military career.

Around 1955, Tom met Barbara Ann Darlene Switzer and the two were married in 1958. For the next 54 years, they lived in South Houston, raising four children: twin boys, Bret and Bart, a daughter, Melody, and a third son, Thomas Jr. In 2012, Tom and Barbara relocated to Pearland.

Inspired by his tenure running the Marine shooting range, in the early 1960s Tom built and operated the South Houston Indoor Shooting Range, one of the first indoor ranges in the Houston area, if not Texas.

Tom was a member of the Texas Iron Workers Union. Using those skills, he built and rented numerous commercial warehouses in South Houston over several decades.

For forty plus years, he and Barbara were active members of the First Baptist Church of South Houston, where he was baptized on Father’s Day in 2008. During his later years, he would often carry a small picture of Jesus in his breast pocket, next to his heart.

Tom was active in South Houston city politics and ran for mayor several times in the 1970s and served as a City Council Member briefly in the 1990s. This earned him the title of “Unofficial Mayor of South Houston.”

In 1999, Tom opened his “Mixon’s Memories Museum,” a 4000 square foot home for his large collection of guns, vintage cars, movie monsters (built by son Bart) and Korean War memorabilia.

On July 27, 2019, the Korean Consul General in Houston presented Tom with the Civil Merit Medal and Citation from the President of the Republic of Korea, Moon Jae-in.

Tom was preceded in death by wife Barbara, who died on April 1, 2023, and sister Jyirildean “Jerry” Barry.

Tom is survived by his children, son Bret and wife Sue, son Bart and wife Laura and son Andrew, daughter Melody, and son Thomas, Jr. and wife Cynthia and their daughters Harper and Grace; and sisters Joey Womack and Mary Turnbow and brother William “Dub” Mixon, Jr.

A visitation for Thomas will be held Thursday, November 14, 2024 from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM at Forest Park Lawndale Funeral Home, 6900 Lawndale Street, Houston, TX 77023. A funeral service will occur Thursday, November 14, 2024 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM, 6900 Lawndale Street, Houston, TX 77023. A committal service will occur Thursday, November 14, 2024 from 3:00 PM to 3:45 PM at External Service Location, 6900 Lawndale St, Houston, TX 77023.