Tom and I go back to grade school together.  I know I told the story before but we would always laugh about it when we got together.  Mr. Albers class 7th grade Tommy sat behind me and if I got up I would walk by his desk and bump it, then yell OW! Tommy would then say are you ok?  Mr. Albers only heard Tommy and he would get his name on the board.  Needless to say, after three times you had to write a dictionary page.  I remember Tommy telling me that he thinks he wrote the whole dictionary that year but man, did I help him with his vocabulary:)  Then our freshman year on the first day of school we went to a concert, it was my first, and I think it was Journey, oops this story might have to wait but boy the memories we have from that.  Most recently, Tommy would call me and just talk about life, sometimes we laughed sometimes we cried but we always had each others back.  I will miss you my friend but I will remember you and smile because that is what you did no matter what. When I hear Beth by KISS I will sing it out loud so you can hear me. 

Man Tommy, it seems like yesterday we were pulling a string from your upstairs window, across to Marks house so we could talk into a can like a phone. We had so many days of hardcore Kick the can. We terrorizes the neighbors landscape with our baseball (tennis ball) games. We shot lots of dog food cans in the air with fire crackers, and shot lots of bottle rockets at each other. We bounced the basketball off Joes VW. We made big waves in the Mt Vista pool. We had some brutal games of smear the queer. We rocked Kiss in your Kiss tribute of a room. We shredded the shocker field. We laughed all the time. The list went on and on until I realizes that I never thought I'd be saying goodbye the way my friend. 

I love you buddy. 

To Tom's family: Tom was so precious to all who were fortunate enough to work with him at America West Airlines. He was the kindest sweetest man who ever lived. I give Tom full credit for making those early days enjoyable, fun and even magical because he just had the gift of making all of us feel so special. My husband and I love Tom, and I, especially, will miss him terribly. Tom was a great man.