Tom was born to Thomas Donald and Julia Marie Holley on April 29th, 1937 in Eugene, Oregon. He lived in Oregon, California, and Montana. After moving to Montana, Tom decided to enlist in the Air Force with his mother’s consent. Tom served in the Air Force from 1954-1963 where he worked in a closing sales store, warehousing supply unit, as a mail clerk and custodian of assigning rooms to the new military arrivals. Tom was also on call for 24 hours at a time for ambulance duty. Finally, the Air Force brought him to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1959 where he worked at Nellis Air Force Base in a warehouse that stocked F105 jet parts. Tom married his first wife, Kathleen Thorn, and they had 2 children, Thomas Donald Jr. and Judy Lynn Donald. Tom was honorably discharged in 1963 and went to work for the Nevada Test Site shortly afterwards.
In 1974, Tom married his second wife, Nancy Friedel. After their marriage, Tom was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in January of 1987. Although their marriage faced its ups and downs, Tom and Nancy’s love remained true. They both could not have any children, so they decided to adopt a child, Deanna Lee Donald, from the Catholic welfare system. They were married just 3 months short of 20 years when Nancy passed away after her fight with cancer in November 1993.
In 1994 Tom met Patricia (Pat) Minnix. After a strong start and a few missteps along the way, Pat finally agreed to marry Tom. They were married in the Las Vegas Temple on June 10th, 1995. Their love has been celebrated all throughout the 26 years they were married before his passing, and remains as strong as ever.
Although Tom faced obstacles in his life, he was a shining light for his friends and family. Tom joins his parents, sisters, and second wife, Nancy, in Heaven. He is survived by many loving family members, including his daughters, Judy Lynn Knapp and Deanna Derry (Jason Derry); his son, Thomas Donald (Maritza Rivera); his stepdaughters, Rhonda Houghtaling (Michael Houghtaling) and Susan Steffensen; his stepson, Eric Steffensen (Karin Heines); his nieces (4 total); his nephew (3 total); his grandchildren (14 total); and his great grandchildren (13 total).
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