at the Togus VA Hospital in Augusta, ME after a long battle with cancer. Thanks all for the thoughts and prayers. As hard as it was for the actual end to come, it was just awful seeing him wasting away. When he felt like applying it, he really did have a brilliant, engineering brain. The two ironic aspects of his deteriorating health were the fact that A) it wasn't Cirrhosis that finally took him down and B) his mind, which was definitely his strength, was so effected over the last several months.
He wanted his body donated to the University of New England for research purposes (he was very interested on the effects of aircraft carrier launches and landings on the body and ways those impacts might be controlled-everything else they find is a bonus
), which may have had something to do with his desire for no wake or funeral to slow that process down.
Some may argue which direction he's headed, not exactly a role model I'd want my kids to follow, but the scale was definitely weighted towards the good side and he was fiercely loyal to friends and family.
Per his Will, “My further wishes and directives are as follows: There is to be no funeral of any kind, nor the sending of flowers or cards. Instead use the money to have a beer for me. If you want closure – put the cap back on the beer bottle. This request shall be printed in all obituary notices.” Tonight I will do just that.
RIP, Tom. Hope you're flying again!
"Outa beer-gotta go"