Thomas A. Stogsdill
June 22, 1933 - April 28, 2016
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Thomas A. Stogsdill
June 22, 1933 - April 28, 2016
Obituary
Thomas A. Stogsdill was born June 22, 1933 in Missouri, child of James Wesley Stogsdill and Anna Augusta Stogsdill. He passed away peacefully on April 28, 2016.
He will be met in heaven not only by his mom and dad, but by his siblings (in order from oldest): William B. Stogsdill, Anzell E. Rothe, Wilbert D. Stogsdill, Alma Nadine Stogsdill (died in 1924), and Vursa Leah VanBuskirk. Survived by his last remaining sibling, sister Anna Marie Benson, 1929, 87 years of age. Further survived by his children, Brent Alan Stogsdill, Phillip Wayne Stogsdill, and Lisa Annette Stogsdill-Roquemore, and his extensive family of nieces and nephews.
Thomas retired at 55 from Naval Weapon Center, China Lake where he worked as an engineer for the Department of Defense, he retired to pursue sailing and traveling with his best and dear friend Linda Finco.
He loved to fly, hike, mountain climb, scuba, travel, sail, and live in La Paz. He was a long time member of the China Lake Mountain Rescue team.
He loved to cook and was always trying to figure out how ‘mom’ made certain things. He made a cookbook from newspaper recipes and tried something new all the time.
Thomas taught his children to be independent and to take responsibility for their own actions. He was a mixture of Frank Sinatra ‘I did it my way.’ and “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere.’
Dad’s motto/philosophy: ‘Live life to the fullest.’ He often said, ‘You only pass this way once.’ and ‘No second chances.’
Dad was a happy soul… No regrets, except he would have liked that last glass of wine…
Please view the video at www.youtube.com/embed/e-y581HdWfY?rel=0. It was very special to Thomas and his daughter Lisa.
12 responses to Thomas A. Stogsdill
Glenn Roquemore says:
May 7, 2016
I first met Tom around 1969. We were in the play David and Lisa. He was a doctor and I was a porter. I enjoyed his pies and long talks about life. Working on the Ana Augusta was a thrill and Tom loved teaching the ropes. The day ended with Jack Daniels sometimes ending in an unplanned overnight stay. Tom was a great field trip leader often patching up students that couldn’t put one foot in front of the other. Magic times with one of a kind. Steady winds and full sails my friend.
Sandra Shannon says:
May 7, 2016
Uncle Tom was one of my favorite uncles. I remember visits with him and his family when I was a child, the brothers all working on Grandma and Grandpa’s house in St. James and playing under the huge trees in their ‘front yard.’ Their visits to our house and Mom’s huge dinner spreads. But living first in Florida and then California made such visits to Missouri less frequent than our family would have liked.
After Dad (Bill Stogsdill) retired, he drove to California to visit both Tom and his sister Marie and enjoyed every minute. Uncle Tom even took him fishing, something I never remember Dad doing until then!
More important was his visit to Dad after he had suffered a heart attack and just a few months before his death. Uncle Tom made a special trip to Honeybaked Ham to get him a ham on rye, only to find out that the store no longer offered rye bread as an option. So off to the supermarket he went and made Dad the sandwich and took it to the hospital. It was one of the best meals he had there.
After Dad passed and I married, Uncle Tom, Aunt Marie and Uncle Bense, and Aunt Anzell all came to my new home and spent the day. We had a fried chicken dinner (although mine never turned out as good as Mom’s and certainly not like Grandma’s). He and my husband hit it off fabulously and, had they lived closer, would have become great friends.
I also always enjoyed Facebook chats and the occasional letter/update sent at Christmas. He also spent time researching Dad’s military background, wanting to know more specifically about the units in which he served and the medals he won. So much of that information went up in smoke when the federal repository in St. Louis burned several years ago. He want to preserve as much as possible.
Uncle Tom, I pray you are at peace, having living a full and rich life here. My prayers continue for your children and their families. I will miss you!
Sandy Stogsdill Shannon (Bill’s older daughter)
Mark Van Buskirk says:
May 9, 2016
Tom was my favorite uncle. The first motorcycle I drove was his. We used to go on a lot of family field trips. And the best advice anybody ever gave me, “Don’t work a day longer than you have to!” My last message from him was congrats that I had retired. I’ll miss him mucho!
The party doesn’t stop in Heaven…and you know Uncle Tom is tearing it up.
Phillip W. Stogsdill says:
May 9, 2016
I’d like to personally thank everyone that has posted memories of and about my father, Thomas a. Stogsdill. I can’t remember a time that I didn’t see my father as being my ultimate superhero and role model in life. He always had a way of making you feel special, loved, that there was no sacrifice too great that he wouldn’t make. Lisa, my sister, posted a picture that explains it better than words ever could. That old, black & white photo from back in his home photography and movie phase. There we are on the couch, Lisa in his lap, Brent on one side and I on the other, gazing up with pure adoration in my eye’s and Dad smiling back down at me. This past couple weeks has been a flood of wonderful memories, times, places, activities, vacations, movies watched, television shows, air shows on the base, fireworks on the 4th of July, teaching all of us kid’s how to drive, even the short list of memories and deeds would easily fill a book. I’ve caught myself questioning why I haven’t broken down in a flood of tears yet. I came very close while viewing Linda Fincos’, my fathers best friend and companion of over 35 years, beautiful slideshow of memories with the song, “You should be here,” or whatever the actual title is. Then it hit me, How does one cry when my memories are of a phenomenal person, a man who truly lived life well and to the fullest. He was a wonderful father who always took the time to be an active part of Brent, Lisa and my life, from childhood to the day of his passing. He was never one to complain, or to speak ill of others and I would be hard pressed to become even half the man that he was in life. When times got a bit hard and lean, he still found a way to let you know that everything was going to be okay, that with time and effort, we would prevail. Here are but a few of those memories. He knew his way around a kitchen and is responsible for being the best nut brittle maker ever. He’d bring home this huge grocery bag filled with mixed nuts. Walnuts, Almonds, Hazel nuts, Pecans and Brazil nuts. We kids would get busily cracking those nuts knowing that, even though most of it was going out in Christmas parcels to relatives, we were still going to have some left over for our own. I’ve yet to sample any other brittle that even came close. I remember “Beehives,” a hamburger and sausage shell/pocket, stuffed with cream cheese and an apricot half, capped and sprinkled with Almond slices.Triple T parties with our cousins,Tacos, Tie-die and Tequila, (for those old enough to drink.) Dad just had a knack for coming up with really fun things to do, even on a “shoestring” budget.
In my Senior year at high school, we came back late from some out of town band trip. We off loaded the drums and other equipment. I went back out to the parking lot.”Oh shit !”The truck wasn’t where I’d parked it. I dreaded making that phone call and telling Dad the truck had been stolen. There was no panic, or the expected anger in his voice as he suggested I take another look to be certain before calling the police. There was a truck very similar to our’s, but it had “Cool, Fat Tires with Chrome Rims.” I dug in my pockets for another quarter to call, explaining that there was a truck in the parking lot, but it couldn’t be ours. There was this gut wrenching, here it comes, the “shit storm of all time,” pause of silence. Then came Dad’s mischievous little chuckle followed by, “put the truck key in the door and get your butt home before curfew.” “Surprise !”
Another time, around my 18th Birthday, Dad had some surplus lumber left over from some home renovations. He asked if I’d help him with something. We sawed, sanded and assembled the components, Routed and stained. We stood back, admiring the finished project, It was a waterbed frame & pedestal. He smiled, hugged me and said “Happy Birthday.” No matter the adversity strewn along his path, Dad always got back up, dusted off and charged bravely ahead. R.I.P
Phillip W. Stogsdill
Kathy Martin says:
May 10, 2016
Tom was a good neighbor for over 21 years. We enjoyed hiking and mountain biking with him, and his New Year’s Eve parties. He treated our son like one of his own and even went to Back-to-School night with him once when we were out of town. It had been a long time since he’d done that and he said he enjoyed it.
One year at Yosemite, Eric and I decided to hike up Half Dome. Eric was 9 or 10 then and when he saw that roped trail to the top he decided he’d gone far enough – he didn’t mind the trip up but he wasn’t sure about the trip coming back down. I assured him Tom and Linda, who were climbing up the other side, would be at the top and Tom would make sure Eric gone safely. That was all the convincing he needed to continue the trip.
We lost contact with Tom after we moved but we did see him once when he was in town and the photos Linda posted were always great to see. He was always smiling and full of good tales.