He went to kindergarten at St. Elizabeth’s in Altadena, California. While there, his mother went to pick him up. Upon arrival, she discovered him out back on milk bottle washing detail. He was being punished because he thought it was too babyish to take naps. His maternal great grandmother died this year. Her garage contained WWII memorabilia that his Uncle Tom had brought back from the war. There were Lugers, Nazi flags, a full flight uniform from a German fighter pilot and tons of other memorabilia. He was playing with matches and gasoline in a closet and ended up setting the garage on fire and burning it to the ground. Kitty Ryan, his maternal grandmother, lied to the fire department and defended him. Tom told the authorities that he saw a man climb over the fence. They gave him a candy bar.
Shortly before turning six, the family moved back to Chicago. He attended first grade at St. Killian’s.
Previously, Tom’s father. Martin, worked for the Rock Island Railroad in Chicago. At approximately seven, the family moved back to California where his father went to work for Informative Research. Tom attended Holy Angels in Arcadia, California. The school was located directly across the street from Santa Rita Race Track. His maternal grandparents lived in a separate house on the same property. They had many apricot and walnut trees and many berries. They also owned a chicken ranch behind them with several thousand chickens. Tom and his brother, Bill, used to sell the apricots and walnuts that their grandfather picked and crated for extra money. This is how Tom bought his first bicycle.
When going into third grade, the family moved yet again to San Francisco. They lived in Daly City. There, he attended Most Holy Redeemer in San Francisco. Here, Tom fell in love with his third grade teacher, a nun, Sister Mary St. John. He professed his love for her repeatedly.
After third grade, they moved to Redwood City, California. In fourth grade, he attended Redwood Grammar School, but only for a short time, because they were moving again.
Next, they moved to Seattle so his father could open a new office for Informative Research. Here, Tom attended St. Margaret’s of Scotland Grammar School. The family stayed here about 18 months. Tom had his first girlfriend here. He used to walk her home from school every day.
Next, his father was sent back to manage the San Francisco office. Now the family lived in Burry Burry, California. Tom attended Burry Burry Grammar School; 5th grade. He was a straight C student at St. Margaret’s. At Burry Burry, they told him he was so far ahead of the other kids that they made him a class monitor and promoted him to sixth grade in advance. They also got their very first TV there. It was black and white and approximately ten inches. They were in tall cotton and all the neighbors came to their house to watch TV, as they were the only ones that owned one.
At 16, he was the State Champion in Ping Pong. The Cubs used to have Spring Training at West High School. He was a club house boy for the Cubs. One day, one of his friends dared him to start up a bulldozer that was on the campus. At lunch time, he managed to start it and drive it across Thomas Rd onto the Encanto Golf Course where he proceeded to drive it into the 10th green and 9th tee box before jumping off of it right before running it into a palm tree. He had to appear in front of a judge. The judge gave him an ultimatum to either enlist in the military or go to jail.
As a result, he enlisted in the Army in Phoenix, Arizona on June 5, 1962. He was first stationed at Ft. Ord, California for basic training. Next, he was stationed at Ft. Bragg, N.C. for jump school. He was a member of the 101st Airborne Screaming Eagles Division. Then, he went to Ft. Lee, Va. For rigger school. He then was stationed in Bangkok, Thailand. Next, he went to Ben Hua, Vietnam. During his tour in Vietnam, he was shot in the back while making a jump with a Special Forces Unit. After his injury and an experimental surgery at Walter Reed Hospital, he received an honorable discharge in 1964. The Vietnam War was a very unpopular war and once while on a weekend leave, he was spit on in his dress uniform. Many years later while vacationing on a cruise, many, many people came up to thank him for his service both on the cruise and on the streets, and even in Customs and the airport; all due to a new hat that read “101st Airborne.” We were overwhelmed.
Tom married Jodi Blair in 1964. They had two children; Jack, who was everything he wanted in a son, and Noel. She was the first girl born in the family, and the apple of his eye. He loved to play catch and basketball with Jack. He taught Jack not to be afraid of the baseball by firing pitches at him in front of the garage door. He attended ASU on a baseball scholarship and graduated in 1969 with a degree in Secondary Education. He simultaneously worked for the Post Office. He started there as Christmas help. He also worked for A.M. Lewis as a lumper. He offloaded semi trucks and palletized them so they could be shipped to grocery stores. He made $5.00 per hour. By 1966, he had saved enough money to pay cash for a brand new light blue Chevy Impala convertible. Additionally, in 1994, he got a secondary degree in Substance Abuse Counseling.
He was always involved in playing softball and played a lot of tournament ball. There were fifteen guys in a rented Winnebago that headed to Salt Lake City for the National Championship Softball Tournament. Hefty, drunk as a skunk, drove the entire way and no one else cared, because they were in worse shape. They were afraid they wouldn't be able to buy more alcohol in Salt Lake, so they purchased forty cases of beer and by the time they reached Flagstaff, they were completely out and had to reload.
In 1991,he married Debra Smith. We have been married nearly 27 years and have weathered all of life's ups and downs. We have also travelled extensively and enjoyed every minute together. His favorite trip was a River Cruise up the Danube that we took in 2005, with friends, Joy and Merv Schantz and Murray and Sue White. We went from Budapest, Hungary through Austria and Germany. There were many older people on the trip and he kept them all laughing with his jokes and his antics. He also loved Prague. We made one trip to Hawaii, and forty minutes out of Phoenix, he was unconscious in his seat. They called for a Dr. and a very nice man came to help. Of course, Tom came to immediately, as he always did. We told the Dr. that he was a diabetic and that he had had high blood sugar that morning. He kept asking questions about what he had eaten for breakfast, etc, and when I said something about him being high, he very loudly, said,”HIGH” when my patients tell me they are high it is because they have been smoking weed. The whole plane was roaring with laughter.
Later,he began having problems with “Syncope”. This is unexplained fainting. Two Easter Sunday's in a row, he passed out cold in Mass in two different Catholic Churches and had to be carried out. Later, he passed out in the middle of his mother in law's funeral. We all said, Mom would understand. After that, he was always afraid to go to church, and said that God was trying to tell him something and didn't want him in his house.
His funeral is being held at the Brophy Chapel, in part, because it is one place he hasn't passed out in!
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