Thomas O. Ross

Thomas O. (Tommy) Ross, age 76, of Troy, passed away Wednesday, December 16, 2020 in a Temple hospital. Private graveside services will be Monday, December 21, 2020. A memorial service will be 3:00 p.m., Monday, January 4, 2021 at Cole Funeral Home, McGregor, Texas.

Tommy was born on September 23, 1944 to J.P. and Sue Ross. He mostly grew up in Moody Texas, where he attended Moody public schools. Tommy married his high school sweetheart Patricia Fletcher on June 5, 1965. They started their life together in Waco, Texas where they eventually gave birth to two sons, Gary and Tony. Tommy worked several jobs before settling in at the data processing department, for the City of Waco. This began a lifelong passion for computer systems. Tommy briefly moved the family to Corsicana, Texas when he accepted a position running the computer system, for a large department store chain. In1980, Tommy accepted a position as Director of Information Services for the City of Temple and the family moved to Troy Texas. While with the City, Tommy and his team developed innovative software that was used by the City of Temple and was licensed to other municipalities, throughout the US. Tommy was instrumental in bringing an advanced mainframe computer system to Temple, which he nicknamed “Fred”. Tommy worked through the night on many occasions to bring the computer system up to speed. He and "Fred" made the Temple newspaper on many occasions. During this time, Tommy received multiple Employee of the Year awards. Tommy retired from the City of Temple in 2000. Although Tommy was devoted to his work and worked long hours, he always made time to be present for his kids' activities and to spend time with the family through music. For 23 years, Tommy and family hosted the monthly Central Texas Jamboree in the Troy community center, which brought in musicians from all over Central Texas. For a number of years the family band, Tommy Ross and Still Country, played for several senior dances, including the Grove community center, the Sammons community center, and Temple American Legion. In 2014, Patricia lost her battle with cancer. Later, Tommy met Gloria Elliott, and they had several good years together attending local dances, traveling across the United States, hosting multiple local estate sales, and attending the sporting events of grandchildren.

Tommy was preceded in death by his parents, J.P. and Sue Ross; wife Patricia Fletcher Ross; and grandson Christian Ross.

Survivors include Gloria Elliott of Troy; sons Gary Ross of Las Vegas Nevada, Tony Ross and wife, Jill, of Troy; grandchildren, Tyler Ross of Las Vegas, Nevada, Maggie and Jennie Ross of Troy; brother, David Ross and wife, Rita, of Waco; sisters, Betsy Brewer and husband, Alan, of College Station, Mary Sue Ross of College Station; and several of Gloria Elliot's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.