Joseph Thomas Bullock

On Sunday, March 4, 2018 Tom Bullock passed on to his next chapter after a brief battle with Melanoma. His world travels ended in October 2017 when the cancer invaded his brain. He spent his last months at home in Florida with family, friends and the world's best neighbors.

He was born November 10, 1941 at his family home in DeWitt, Arkansas to the late Leo Nichols and Lillian Mae (Weiner) Bullock. He grew up with six siblings in a modest home located across the street from a large municipal park in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Tom’s love of books started at a young age with long walks to the local library with his best friend, Louis Rainey. He graduated from Dollarway High School in 1959 and Arkansas A&M (University of Arkansas, Monticello) in 1964.

After college he was commissioned in the United States Air Force and proudly served 20 years in space and missile assignments at bases in North Dakota, Florida, Canada and California until his USAF retirement in 1984 from Vandenberg AFB. After the Air Force he worked in the aerospace industry as a Quality Engineer/Manager for Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas, and Boeing on the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, Delta Launch Vehicles, and various satellite programs. He retired from Boeing in 2007 and then the real fun began.

He was an avid basketball and football fan with the Arkansas Razorbacks, Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills as his favorite teams. He was a patriot and loved all things space and airplanes, so his retirement on the Space Coast of Florida was a perfect fit. He never saw a museum that he could just pass by, except maybe one with only Modern Art. Throughout his adult life he served his communities as a member of Lions Clubs International belonging to Lions Clubs located in Santa Maria, California; Huntington Beach, California; Gibsonville, North Carolina and Viera, Florida.

His love for history and books continued throughout his life. He often spoke of his infamous relative from the Civil War, Edmund Ruffin (1794-1865) who is known for two things. Edmund Ruffin was first known in a good way as an agricultural reformer for his methods of improving plantation farming. Tom spotted a picture and display relating to this in one of the Smithsonian museums in DC and later found his old plantation off of Ruffin Road in Hopewell, Virginia. The second thing Edmund Ruffin was known for was firing the first shot at Fort Sumter (as a civilian and he was 66 at the time).

Going back even further in his family history to the Ruthvens (changed to Ruffin in the USA) who once owned what is now the Scone Palace. The story goes that in 1600, James VI unjustly charged the family with treason rather than pay the debt he owed them. James VI seized the estates at Scone and passed them to Sir David Murray of Gospetrie, the 1st Lord Scone.

Retirement allowed Tom to spend more time with family and travel the world with his last wife. Their adventures took him to the battlefields of Gettysburg and Normandy, the DMZ in South Korea, the Hanoi Hilton in Vietnam, the tombs in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, the ancient ruins of Petra, the Terra Cotta Warriors in China, the Moai of Easter Island, the holy sites of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee and Job's tomb; snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, glaciers calving in Alaska, icebergs off of Greenland, the beauty of Iceland, the markets of Hong Kong, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, jet skiing around Bora Bora, snorkeling in Tahiti, climbing the heights of Machu Picchu, the many Mayan sites in the Caribbean, touring Pearl Harbor and climbing Diamond Head in Hawaii, and many ocean and river ports all over the Caribbean, South America, the Baltic, the British Isles, the Mediterranean, Russia, UAE, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, Indonesia, Philippines, Komodo Island, Australia, New Zealand, the Islands of the South Pacific and more.

He was preceded in death by four sisters and one brother: Cora Francis Bullock Gordon (Dewey), Mary Catherine Bullock, Richard Anthony Bullock (Carol), Linda Ann Bullock Ingram (Johnny), and Barbara Blanch Bullock Walter (Kyle). One sibling survives, John Leo Bullock and his wife Carolyn of Monticello Arkansas. He had stayed close with his late brother Richard’s wife, Carol Bullock of Shreveport, Louisiana.

Tom was stationed at Minot AFB when he met and married his first wife Caren (Bergman) Bullock Campbell in July 1966. They were together for 20 years and have two children, Joseph Thomas Bullock II and Catherine Ann Bullock Demos (Chris). Both reside in the Oakland, California area. He is also survived by one granddaughter, Alexandra who is a jewel and a light to all who know her.

In 1991 he was visiting his mother in Pine Bluff, Arkansas when he met the love of his life, Mary Ann (Bonasera) Bullock. They were married a year later in her home town of Silver Creek, New York. Last summer they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in Venice, Italy. He often referred to his big Italian family as “everyone should have one” and loved spending time with all of them.

Memorial services will be held on Friday, April 20, 2018 at 12:00pm at the Cape Canaveral National Cemetery. The family will host a pot luck Celebration of Life at the house after the service.

Memorial donations may be made to:

The Viera Lions Foundation

P.O. Box 561377, Rockledge, FL 32956-1377

or The University of Arkansas Monticello Foundation Fund

http://www.uamont.edu/pages/alumni/uam-foundation-fund/

P.O. Box 3520, Monticello, AR 71656