Thomas J Ackers

On September 25th, Thomas “Tommy” Joseph Ackers passed away peacefully after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease in his Brant Beach home. He was surrounded by family and found his peace to the sounds of his favorite John Denver album.

He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Marybeth “Beth” (née Sullivan); their six children, Katie Ackers-Schrock (Rich), Megan Ackers-Smith (Jesse), Amy Schlippert (Chad), Brendan (Kelly née Sewell), Jennifer (Mark Verber) and Anne Ackers-Cilley (Ben); his sixteen grandchildren Thomas, Maggie, Abby, Colin, Norah, Charlie, Liam, Emma, James, Declan, Sam, Clare, Rose, Cecilia, Eleanor and Sean; his older siblings MaryJo Kubota-Arcarese and Charles Ackers and many nieces and nephews whom he loved dearly.

Tom was born in Norfolk, VA on July 11, 1946 to Charles and Mercedes (née Sullivan) Ackers. The family moved to 29th St. in Ship Bottom just a few months later, and he spent his childhood like many local children do: clamming, surfing and eating ice cream.

He graduated from Southern Regional High School in 1964 and was a member of Southern’s illustrious wrestling team. After high school, he worked at the Esso station in Ship Bottom where he discovered his knack for fixing vehicles. He enrolled at Montclair State University in 1965 as an industrial arts major and was a member of the wrestling team and Psi Chi fraternity. He also proudly served as an airplane mechanic in the Air Force reserves.

After graduating from college in 1969, he spent his entire 40-year career at Southern, teaching wood, auto and metal shop, photography and technical drawing classes at both the middle and high schools. He founded Southern’s first surf team and coached the middle school wrestling and girl’s soccer teams. He also was an integral part of the Southern Regional Theater Company, building sets for the plays and managing the stage crew

What he gave of himself to the Southern Regional community, he was repaid in spades. He met his wife in the middle school cafeteria. He made lifelong friendships with students-turned neighbors and colleagues-turned family. And for 16 of those years, he got to share his place of work with his own children - coaching their teams, sending them candy grams on Valentine’s Day, working side-by-side with them on stage crew and relishing every opportunity he had to mildly embarrass them with his questionable fashion choices (usually OP shorts and boat shoes with no socks).

Southern was his second home. Even in the later stages of his dementia, his face lit up when family members drove him through the faculty parking lots and he remembered the decades spent in room C-14 and illegally parking in the firelane behind the middle school shop.

He loved dogs, history, crab cakes, music, an outside shower and a light offshore breeze. He will be remembered by all for his good nature, goofy sense of humor, surprisingly good dance moves, love for his friends and family and dedication to Dodge trucks, all of which he kept with him til the very end.

A visitation will be held Monday, October 2, 2023 from 3:00 PM to 6:30 PM at Thos. L. Shinn Funeral Home, 10 Hilliard Drive, Manahawkin, NJ 08050. A committal service will occur Tuesday, October 3, 2023 from 12:30 PM to 12:45 PM at St Mary's Cemetery, Beachview Dr, Manahawkin, NJ 08050. A funeral service will occur Tuesday, October 3, 2023 starting at 11:00 AM at St Francis RC Church, 4700 Long Beach Blvd, Brant Beach, NJ 08050.

The Mass will be lived-streamed from St. Francis of Assisi website: http://mtr.bio/stfrancis or on facebook at St Francis of Assisi Parish.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be sent to the Alzheimer’s Association (www.act.alz.org) in memory of Tommy and his mother, Mercedes, who also suffered from dementia or Waves of Strength (www.wavesofstrength.org) an organization that connects children battling disease, living with a disability or experiencing an unfortunate circumstances with surfing.

To leave online condolences and fond memories of Tommy for the Ackers family, please visit www.shinnfuneralhome.com