Thomas Edwin DeWitt

Tom was born June 15, 1949 in Harvey, Illinois to Frederick and Betty DeWitt. Fred, Betty, and Tom moved to Seattle when Fred was discharged from the US Navy after WWII. They purchased a small home in Skyway, in South Seattle, which is where Tom’s twin sisters, Carol and Cathy, were born in 1952.

Tom graduated from Renton High School in 1967, and then attended Highline Community College and Seattle Pacific College. He graduated from SPC in 1972 with a major in Economic and Business. He worked as a computer programmer and systems analyst his entire career, at several large companies including PacCar and United Grocers.

Tom married Michelle Hynes in September of 1973. His daughter, Heather, was born in April of 1976 and son, Geoff, was born in 1979. Tom and Michelle divorced in 2000.

Tom was dedicated to the Boy Scouts of America. He started at a young age as a Cub Scout, and then moved into young adult scouting. He had a great group of friends that all remained together through the years. They went camping and earned merit badges. Their biggest adventure was a 100 mile, 10 day hike around Mt. Rainier. Fred was an assistant scout master for part of this time in Tom’s life.

In his later years, Tom was an avid photographer. After he retired, he traveled a bit. He did all categories of photography—weddings, horses and other animals, nature, flowers, Mt. Rainier, the Blue Angel and other subjects.

Tom was misdiagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2018 while living in California. But when he moved back to Washington in 2021, he was correctly diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, which is in the Parkinson family of brian diseases, but much more aggressive. PSP first steals the brain’s executive functions (decision making skills) and then slowly steals away fine and gross motor skills. Actually, very little is known about the disease.

Tom is survived by his daughter Heather Lynch (husband Craig of Eden Prairie, MN), and his son Geoff DeWitt of Puyallup. He is also survived by his sister, Carol Funk (husband Jeff, of Puyallup) and his nephews Ryan Funk (wife Erika, children Samuel and Noelle) and Paul Funk (wife Brianna, children Caleb and Hannah), all from Puyallup.

Tom’s legacy was to donate his brain to CurePSP, in partnership with the Brain Bank at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. His hope, along with CurePSP, is to find out more about the disease and help others in the process. PSP has no drug therapy, no other therapy, and no cure. Once diagnosed, individuals have a 5-7 year life expectancy.