Thomas Eugene Russell

September 17, 1938 – December 24, 2017

A man of God who was a force of will, a testament to the power of prayer, and a belief in positive thinking passed away at age 79 from melanoma. Tom Russell was born in Dallas, TX to Annabel (Goldthwaite) and Wade Russell. He grew up in Arlington, TX with his surviving brothers, Al, Robert (Vicki) and Bill (Jeanne). He served in the US Naval Reserve in land-locked Hutchinson, KS, where he met his wife of 58 years, Karen (Spencer). He graduated from Arlington State College (now University of Texas, Arlington) in 1963, selling Fuller Brush door to door to support he and Karen.

Tom and Karen had three children, Tim (Kristen) born in 1960, Becky (Tim Fancher) born in 1963 and Cindy (Rick Pribnow) born in 1964. The family lived in Arlington, then Wichita, KS, settling in Oklahoma City in 1968. Tom had several significant careers most notably in insurance sales and in wood care services.

The most enduring relationships were with the church and his passion for Christian mission service occurred within the Disciples of Christ church, where he was able to live a life directed by the example of Jesus Christ. He grew up at First Christian Church, Arlington, attended Pine Valley Christian, Wichita, KS, Memorial Christian & Western Oaks Christian in Oklahoma City. He organized many mission trips for the Disciples of Christ Region to storm damaged communities throughout the Midwest and Southwest. In addition, he organized work for SW Good Samaritan Ministries, Chain Reaction Ministries, Reaching Our City and The Refuge. His mission work impacted families as close as Oklahoma City and as far as the Dominican Republic. He was the driving force behind many fund raising efforts for all of these missions and more, often quietly offering matching funds in order to boost donated funds.

The other significant passion for Tom was his family. He is survived by eight grandchildren: Sean Houston, Jake and Sammie Russell, Daniel and Amanda Fancher, Ian Russell-McCoy, Harry and Annabel Russell-Pribnow. He and Karen traveled often to see grandchildren in sporting, musical and scouting events.

Tom believed firmly in the power of prayer, of positive thinking, healthy living and of goal setting. For many decades, he had been a regular jogger and in more recent years, an avid bicycler. Tom was an active member of the Oklahoma Bicycle Society for over 30 years. He was strongly influenced by Norman Vincent Peale and Zig Zigler and personally lived a life of positive thinking. This came into stark relief when he was diagnosed with an aggressive melanoma in 2013. The prognosis was not good, but he was not going to let something like cancer have its way with him, because he had many things he still wished to do in life, and many people who needed his service. He undertook a self-directed course of naturalistic medical interventions, and began to follow a very strict diet while he continued an active lifestyle. He sought prayers for healing and firmly believed in the strength of prayer – both for himself and for a long list of other friends and family for whom he prayed for daily. He felt good physically and lived an active, robust life for four years after that diagnosis, against the odds. Only in the last month did advancing cancer slow him down and interfere with his plans and activities.

If a person could achieve a self-defined life that brought personal satisfaction and spiritual depth of meaning through force of will and force of faith, Tom Russell is a prime model.