Thomas Lee McGuire

Thomas Lee McGuire was born in South Bend, Washington, on June 7, 1954, the youngest of five children, Donald and Mary McGuire, and grew up in Raymond, Washington. The McGuires lived in a two-story white house in Raymond, Washington. His mother worked at a cannery; his father worked at the lumber mill.

As the youngest with some age difference to his siblings, he was a child with plenty of time to himself. He was close to his mother and showed early on that creative love for tinkering and figuring out how to make something come about that would characterize the remarkable ways he made his house a home and provided the landscape that would form his daughters’ childhood memories.

Life in Raymond was typical of rural life in a small coastal town known for its logging and shipping port. As a teenager, when Hwy 20 across northern Washington was built, Tom rode his bike across the state, meeting his parents at Coulee Dam four days later.

When Tom graduated, his best hope for getting out of town was to join the military. He joined the Navy and served from 1972 to 1976 as a Fire Control Technician 2 Class, stationed on the East Coast. He had tours which would find him on the wrong side of a fence in Spain, a little too close to the mafia, and driving a General around Norway.

It was while he was in the Navy, and stationed in Vallejo, California, that he met the woman he would marry, his wife of nearly 48 years. He spotted her in Fireside Saloon and said to his buddy, “I’m going to marry that woman.”

For their first date, he took her for a motorcycle ride up Mount Diablo.

Tom and Pat married on February 18, 1978, at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Menlo Park. They often camped at the Stanislaus National Forest.

Their first home was a mobile home on her parents’ vineyard in Modesto. They saved up and purchased their next home, a California bungalow on Rosemore Ave. There, Jennifer was born in 1981. Four years later, Kathryn was born, and they purchased a small farm, finding a 9.5-acre parcel with an almond orchard and a farmhouse on Tully Road in Hughson. They were home.

Tom worked the farm and commuted to Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, where he would work for 28 years. He worked endlessly, but work was a means to an end for Tom. The whole of his life was his wife, his daughters and his church.

At St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, he and Pat would attend mass and volunteer their time. Tom was a proud Knight of Columbus and an usher at the church. He helped in every way asked, believing that service and generosity are not something we question; if you can do it, you do it.

At home, Tom used his creativity to build an interior for the barn, to expand their home, and transform an old horse corral called “The Woods” into both woodshop and playhouse for his daughters.

He took Jen to weekend swim meets, camping out with the trailer, and drove Kathryn to daily mass, from the time she was 11 until she was 16. He and Pat continued to attend together daily until the day of his death.

He drove to Washington to take wood to his mother. He drove to Costco, sometimes every day, running errands for the women he loved. He drove his daughters and their belongings cross-country when they moved. Jen was never without a ride from the airport whenever she visited. He drove his wife to run errands. All this, he said, was a way to spend time with them.

In 2003, Tom and Pat joined Team in Training, first as walk/joggers, but then as cyclists, which reunited Tom with his love of biking. He was immensely proud of the money raised by Team in Training for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Tom completed over 30 events, both marathons and bike rides, from 2003 to 2013, raising money with Team in Training, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Together with Pat and Jen, they completed the American’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride in Tahoe. He continued as a coach and SAG, encouraging and picking up riders who needed it.

After Kathryn married in 2009, grandchildren followed, and these became his joy, each in their turn as he played with them, read to them, ran errands for them and babysat them.

He did all this while living with the severe and, later in life, crippling pain of rheumatoid arthritis, which began when he was 21. But he never complained.

In the pattern of St. Joseph, he let others’ lives do the talking, as he supported, acted, and made it possible for them to fulfill their calling.

Tom McGuire passed from this life on the night of January 7, 2026, after being struck by a vehicle outside his home.

Services for Tom McGuire will begin on January 26 with a Visitation at 4 p.m. for family, 5 p.m. for family and friends, concluding with a Rosary at Lakewood Funeral Home, Heritage Chapel, 900 Santa Fe Ave.

The funeral Mass will be held on January 27 at 10 a.m. at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, 7820 Fox Rd, Hughson. After the funeral, burial will follow at Lakewood Memorial, Pioneer Garden, with Veteran Honors. There will be a reception in Hughes Hall at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Blood Cancer United (formerly the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) / Team in Training at  https://pages.lls.org/tnt/team/ambbr26/TMcGuire, and visit your local Costco.