To me it was striking how Tom and his son Jed had the same kind of humor. I will miss the corney jokes being told at family gatherings.

Johnine and I first met Tom (and Necya) way back in 1987 when I joined DEC-Enfield. I was a complete newby to DEC and Tom took time out of his busy day(s) to teach me how the company worked, what did and didn't work, and where the opportunities and pitfalls lay. At the time he was the lead New Product StartUp Engineer, and a being a teacher and mentor wasn't in his job description.
As we became friends with Tom (and Necya) and got to know them over the years,  their advice and counsel and unending pursuit of  adventure is what stands out. We adopted three (sibling) chidren, and Tom and Necya were right-there with useful support and advice....having had perhaps some very slight challenges in their own children's upbringing(?). 
Our favorite adventure with the Lawnsby's was going to a Newport Folk Festival concert with them.....on their sailboat offshore! It was a great concert and trip, and we felt sort-of safe with Tom at the helm.
I am glad that I was able to stay in touch with Tom over the years, and was able to visit he and Necya in Austin a few years ago. As always, they were both happily ensconced in family (most of all), the community, and a bunch of fast cars (go figure that one?).
  
Johnine and I shall miss Tom, and we send our condolences to the entire Lawnsby family.

Sincerely,
Tom & Johnine Conroy

Tom & I just landed at Heathrow, London enroute to Dublin, Ireland. Then we realized out flight to Dublin was from Gatwick airport. Tom was fine as he traveled on an Anmerican passport. That was my pre-Ameican days and I was traveling on an Indian passport. The immigtration officer could not find a visa to enter England on my passport. I was beggging the officer to give me some sort of a temporary visa....by that time Tom was on the other side of the immigration booths. So Tom looks at the immigration officer I was engaged with, points to me and says with an impish smile, "watch out for that shady character!" It took me an extra 10 minutes to convince the officer that we were friends and Tom has a wierd sense of humor. Anyway it all worked out fine and when I got out of the immigration counters I told Tom, "don't you ever pull that kind of a stunt ever again!" He stands there and laughs until there were tears in his eyes. Eventaully I ended up joining him in the laugh-fest !! That is Tom Lawnsby for you !!