Thomas "Tz" Zarate

Funeral service will be held 11:00 a.m. Saturday, November 21 at Memorial Funeral Chapel in College Station with Rev. Will Fountain officiating. Interment will follow at Memorial Cemetery of College Station. Visitation will be from 5:30 – 8:00 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.

Tommy was born March 7, 1946 in Buckeye the son of Gergoria and Marie (Osuna) Zarate. He was the youngest of 17 children. Tommy worked in the Texas Quarter Horse Association and the American Quarter Horse Association industry for many years. He worked with a tireless energy motivated with a driven heart doing what he loved and was born to do. In his career he accomplished many set records in the world of Quarter Horse Racing with the fastest qualifying times and wins, and broke and trained several champion horses. Even after a battle with his heath, he came back to win three of the biggest races in his career, The All American Futurity, Sam Houston Derby and Sires Cup Derby.

Tommy has left this world setting a legacy of never quitting and running your race until the end. He showed us with faith in God all things are possible.

Tommy is preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Marcelino and Rosendo; half-brother, Francisco; and a sister, Paula.

He is survived by his wife of 19 years, Jocelyn (Vasquez) Zarate; children, Audrea (Zarate) Gannaway and Bridget Zarate; four grandchildren, Zachary D Huff, Kaleb B. Drake, Natalie J. Drake and Daniel G. Gannaway; brothers and sisters, Julian Zarate, George Zarate, Joyce Cantu, Alonzo Zarate, Carmel Zarate, Phil Zarate, Margaret Parrado, Hope Villareal, Lupe Zarate, Mary Escobar, Natalie Valadez, Amada Gonzales and Emilio Zarate.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Kingdom Ranch Church Building Fund, P.O. Box 3836, Bryan, Texas 77805 or Hospice Brazos Valley, 502 W 26th St., Bryan, TX 77803.

Philippians 3:13-14

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.