Thomas Francis Walsh

On May 12, 2025 one of the "helpers" in this life passed away in Dallas, Texas. He was kind, thoughtful, respectful, humble, helpful and had the "manners of royalty" as one brother in law would say. He was the first to hop up after a Thanksgiving or Christmas feast, and went right to washing all the fine china, crystal and silverware that couldn't go in the dishwasher. He dressed almost exclusively in grey and light blue, never wanting to be flamboyant, but always to be appropriate. He had thick salt and pepper hair that was forever trimmed and perfectly combed. This sweet man, Tom, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 1, 1944 to Jean M. Hoefling and Thomas Francis Walsh. He was named Thomas Henry Walsh at birth. However, as an adult he changed his name to Thomas Francis Walsh after his dad. His family always affectionately called him Tommy. He was born with a small hole in his heart and was not expected to have a long life. Unfortunately, also, his mother contracted TB when he was just 2 and passed away when he was 8. He then went to live with his maternal grandmother and aunt because his father was in the US Army and often was stationed outside Pennsylvania. When he turned 12, he moved to Amarillo, Texas because his dad would soon marry Lula Maye who he had met while stationed at Pantex in the Panhandle of Texas. She would become eternally dear to Tommy as his new stepmother. In later years he emotionally recalled rejoicing that he finally had a real home once his dad settled in Amarillo, Texas with Tommy, his new wife, and her 3 year old daughter, Mellanie. Within a year, along came his little brother, Michael. Shortly after, the family moved to Aberdeen, Maryland for 6 months. Then, Tommy's dad and the whole family were transferred to Karlsruhe, Germany. Tommy's second sister Christina was born in Heidelberg the following year. Tommy spent all four years of his high school years at Karlsruhe American High School. He was quite active in student government, choir, and tennis, the teen club, and helping to babysit his 3 younger siblings. He loved all sports and wanted to play football along with other team sports. However, he was medically advised not to participate in contact games because of his heart condition. It could not be repaired until he was fully developed and the medical procedures were more advanced. In 1962, after Tommy graduated from high school in Germany, the family had to move again because Tom Sr. was transferred to 5th Army in Chicago. Tommy worked the summer of '62 at his Grandpa Earl Cummings' farm outside Panhandle. He remembered that time fondly, and his grandpa offered him a permanent position. However, he rejoined the family in Park Forest, a suburb of Chicago and got a job at Marshall Fields. In the fall of 1963 he went to Walter Reed National Military Hospital to undergo a relatively new surgery that would repair the hole in his heart. Meanwhile, back in Illinois, his baby sister, Kathleen was born. At that time, it was common practice for women to remain in the hospital for at least a week after their baby was delivered, so Tom Walsh Sr. gathered up Mellanie, Christina, and Michael to drive across country to pick up Tommy from Walter Reed in Maryland. One can imagine what an endeavor that must have been, and then to return in the same car with all three kids AND Tommy still very weak, recuperating from major surgery. After Tommy got back on his feet, he started selling cookware to young women who had just finished high school. He met and was quite smitten with a beautiful Italian girl named Rose. In 1965, his dad got orders that he was to be transferred to Istanbul, Turkey. Tommy did not go to Turkey with the family primarily because he had serious designs to marry Rose. As children we rarely saw our dad cry, but he broke down in tears when we said good bye to Tommy and left for our dad's new station.

While the family was in Turkey, Tommy got a job at Allis Chambers which he greatly enjoyed for several years. After Turkey, the family was stationed at Fort Dix for less than two years when Thomas Senior was deployed to Viet Nam. Lula Maye opted to live with the children back in Amarillo while her husband was in Viet Nam. Tommy's dad asked him to go live with the rest of the family while he was gone, so he moved to Amarillo with everyone else. He had several jobs there before he got on with Skaggs Albertsons. He worked for them in Amarillo, and then in Dallas after the family moved there following the military retirement of Tom Sr. In 1973 Tommy enlisted in the Army which he had wanted to do for a long time. He did his basic training at Fort Polk, and then was sent to Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana for Personnel Training. While there, Tommy met and married Colleen Counts, a beautiful Native American girl from South Dakota who also was in school at Fort Benjamin Harrison. Upon graduating they were sent to Germany for three years, and then they were stationed in San Antonio for almost eight. Their marriage for various reasons unfortunately fell apart around 1979. After that, Tommy took advanced training several places in the military to eventually become a computer programmer. In 1983 he was sent to the northern part of Germany near Bremen. Later he was transferred to Wurzburg, Germany where he remained until his retirement from the Army. While in the Army Tommy rose to the rank of E7, and retired as a CWO3. Tommy loved Germany and did not want to leave. However, upon retirement in 1994, Tommy returned to Dallas to be near his parents. A few years later he was taking some advanced computer classes at El Centro College. He got to know several professors well who were impressed by his programming skills and affable personality. The job of running the computer lab at El Centro practically fell into his lap without even an application. He worked at that job 29 hours a week for over 11 years. Then the school offered Tommy and other senior employees a package to retire a little before his personal goal. He did not want to retire as he loved his job, but he took the package. By that time Lula Maye needed assistance with many things as Tommy's dad died in 2011. She had started failing in many ways and Tommy knew he needed to step in and handle many of her affairs. He faithfully helped with many of her needs until she passed in 2022. After her death, he plummeted as if his purpose was gone. He showed signs of dementia and required increasing care from his family and caretakers over the last three years. We still had some awesome moments with him at the Dallas Arboretum, his favorite dive, "The Lakewood Landing", or eating at places like "Ellen's" and "The Circle Grill". He was such a frequent, loved customer at "The Circle Grill" they wanted to make a plaque with his name on it, but in typical Tommy fashion he asked them to make the plaque for The Walsh Family.

Tommy will long be remembered as an awesome grandson, son, brother, uncle, friend, cousin, person. He was extremely generous with his parents, siblings, nieces, nephews and many others. If you ever got a card from him, you could tell he had chosen it with great thought. He loved his family and his friends from "The Lakewood Landing" in Lakewood. He was fun and could be competitive, even it was just croquet in mom's backyard on 4th of July. He was great at betting on winning teams in the Super Bowl, March Madness and the like. He loved Tom Brady and the Patriots, The Pittsburg Steelers, and Notre Dame. He is preceded in death by his natural mother, Jean Hoefling, his father Thomas Francis Walsh, his stepmother Lula Maye Walsh, and his great nephew Caleb McRoberts. He is survived by his sister Mellanie Svoboda, and her husband Kevin, his brother, Michael Walsh and Michael's long time significant other Mary Beth Shaper, and her daughter Laurel Hunt, his sister Christina Walsh and her son Austin Pooley, his baby sister Kathleen Stoll, her husband Don and their children, Brendan Stoll and Elena Stoll. He is also survived by his niece, Layla Eakin, (his sister Mellanie's daughter) and Layla's two sons, Logan McRoberts and Topher Lowe who were his great nephews.

A rosary for Thomas will be held Sunday, June 8, 2025 at 11:00 AM at Sparkman-Crane Funeral Home, 10501 Garland Rd, Dallas, Texas 75218. A funeral service will occur Sunday, June 8, 2025 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM, 10501 Garland Road, Dallas, TX 75218. A visitation & reception will occur Sunday, June 8, 2025 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, 10501 Garland Road, Dallas, TX 75218.