Thomas Allen Cain was born in Cedar Falls, Iowa to Richard B. and Irva L (Faris) Cain on June 28, 1937. He grew up in Pleasant Valley, Iowa along the Mississippi River with many tales of the yearly floods and boating through their house. He started working when he was 8 as a caddie at the Davenport Country Club. He carried clubs for all the greats including Sam Snead, Carey Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum during the Western Open. Along with working as a caddie Tommy started working in the steel foundry when he turned 13. He was too young to work inside the foundry so he spent his time outside breaking steel.
Tom was proud to be the first class to attend all four years at the new Bettendorf High School. He was in the group to choose the school colors and mascot. After high school he attended Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa studying to be an engineer. After hours and hours of slide rule classes he changed course to study geology at University of Iowa in Iowa City. That took him to the Black Hills of South Dakota where he learned about rocks and fossils. He hitchhiked from there to look for work in the oil fields. Not finding what he wanted he eventually made his way back to Iowa City. Over all, he spent seven years in college changing in majors regularly. He never graduated, but was one semester short of four majors and eleven minors when he decided to once again try something new.
He spent a couple years in the Army where he learned how to carry mortar base plates. He went into the reserves, but was later deferred for his work in the aerospace industry.
In 1963 Tom came to Boulder, Colorado where his younger brother was studying at the University of Colorado. He took a job at Beechcraft as a janitor. At one point Beechcraft needed help with some contract negotiations and they noticed that Tom had an extensive education and they enlisted him as their contracts engineer for the space program. He worked at Beechcraft and Ball Aerospace in various different capacities for the rest of his career and loved every minute of it. He moved from Boulder to Wichita, Kansas and back a couple times making friends everywhere he went. He retired in 1999, only to take a consulting position in Genoa, Italy working for Piaggio Aerospace for a year before returning to Pueblo, Colorado and retiring for good.
He was a longtime member of the Sunset Men’s Golf League and played golf for Beechcraft and the Pueblo Country Clubs. There was never a dull moment when Tom was around and he had a joke for every occasion.
Tom met his wife, Suzanne Jensen, when he first moved to Boulder. They had one daughter, Alicia, and were married for forty five years until she passed away in 2010. He was preceded in death by his parents, Dick and Irva; a son-in-law, Mike Stover; and his wife, Suzanne. He is survived by his daughter Alicia and brother, John Cain of Florida and many wonderful friends.
A Memorial Gathering & Potluck will be held Monday, June 28, 2021 at 11:00am at the Beech Shelter Gazebo, Beech Trail Natural Space Longmont, CO 80503.
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