The following tribute is from Tom's friend and 1981 graduate, George Hawver. The tribute was written to Tom's family after his passing.

I don’t think anyone will ever be able to forget his smile. He always seemed to get his happiness from seeing others enjoy themselves. Tom enjoyed life too much for him to expect us to stop enjoying our lives just because he is gone. Although I will miss him terribly, he will never truly be gone from my life as long as I have my memories of him and our time together. Fortunately, I have a lot of them. I know he is smiling down on us now.

George Hawver