Tommie Joe Loyd

Tom Loyd was born at home in Mountain View, Kiowa County, Oklahoma on September 10, 1938, to James Bealer Loyd and Hattie Pauline (McCasland) Loyd. Because of what Jesus did at Calvary, Tom was born a child of God December 1976, and saw the sunrise from heaven on Thursday, November 6, 2025.

As part of the Great Depression dustbowl, Tom grew up living the “Grapes of Wrath.” Tom’s family abandoned their home in Oklahoma to start anew in California. Tom, his older brother Bob, and his parents started their journey with a shared car with another family, a trunkful of water jugs, and one box of belongings on his mother’s lap. In California, his father found lumbering work in the mountains outside Sloat, CA. Only his father had work shoes, so during the winter months the family was confined to their tiny cabin. During WW2, his father was hired as a guard for the Poston Arizona Japanese Internment Camp, on the Colorado River Indian Reservation.

Tom’s family lived in a tent with a scrounged wood floor making them better off than many guards who just had dirt floors. From there, the family moved to the San Joaquin Valley in California where the family picked cotton by hand. As toddlers, the children sat at the end of rows and picked piles of cotton to be swooped up into their parents’ cotton sacks. Tom’s much loved younger brother, Ray was born during this time.

When Tom and his two brothers were in grade school, Tom would have dinner (fried potatoes and beans) ready for their parents’ return from the field and his brothers were responsible for clean-up. When he was young, during summers, the entire family picked cotton together. During high school, Tom spent the summer in Thermal, CA where he loaded grapes and then slept in the same grape shed where he was on-call to load grape cars.

During his time at Delano High School, Tom excelled in sports including baseball, football, basketball, and track. He took first place in the California Junior Olympics in hurdles and high jump, and second in the four-by-four where one of their team members dropped the baton. In the Spring of 1956 during Tom’s Senior year of high school, he and his older brother, cousin, uncle, and a neighborhood friend, all from Earlimart, CA joined the Air Force taking their oath of enlistment on the Cousin Herb TV Show out of Bakersfield, CA. Tom served as a prop mechanic and ran track for the Air Force.

On exiting the Air Force in 1960, Tom spent several years racing in the local circle track circuit in California with his good friend Dick Brooks who would go on to race in NASCAR. Tom embarked on a career as a master cabinet builder that span over 60 years starting several successful cabinet shops: Morro Bay Cabinets, Coastal Countertops, Loyd’s Cabinets, Heritage Cabinets, and Tom Loyd’s Cabinets.

In his downtime Tom loved to catch fish, fishing everywhere from Alaska to Florida, California to South Carolina. When he moved to Florida in 1993, Tom had the pleasure of meeting his best friend Ed Bartee, who he talked to rain or shine until his passing. They loved playing golf, fishing, talking about life, and vigorously debating the local flora.

Tom Loyd's celebration of life will be held on Saturday, November 15, 2025 at Congaree Baptist Church, 101 Pine Ridge Dr, West Columbia, SC 29172. The viewing will begin at 10:00 am with the service beginning at 11:00 am. The service will also be simulcast on the church's Facebook. In honor of Tom's wishes, suits and ties are strongly discouraged while bright colors are highly encouraged. Tom's obituary will be posted at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries?locationcode=6743.

While there is no expectation, those that are moved should donate to Samaritan's Purse in memory of Tom.