I attended Tom's funeral on Tuesday. He was loved by so many. The room at the funeral home was packed. All the seats were filled and around 50 people had to stand at the back.
Tom was such a kind and generous person. He helped not only his friends and family, but friends of friends and complete strangers as well. One of his high school friends, Larry, spoke of a time when his mother had fallen down the stairs at her home. Tom asked if she had a railing there and Larry said, no. The next day Tom showed up at her home with a railing and installed it for her. That’s the kind of guy he was. So caring.
Larry also spoke of the time he and Tom had been driving out of out town and had been involved in a serious car accident where their car was totalled. The occupants of the other car were badly hurt, but they emerged relatively unscathed. One of their other friends, Maria, came to pick them up and drive them back to Toronto. By the time they got back into town it was around 2:30 a.m.. When Tom found out Maria had to be at the airport at 5:00 a.m. that same morning he drove her there even though he had just been involved in a bad crash and was probably still shaken. For his friends, he would do just about anything.
It’s sad that such a wonderful person was taken so early. He affected everyone he met in a positive way. That’s something we can cherish.
_________________________________________
The guys at hockey signed a card for Florianne.
Florianne, I’m so sorry for your loss. We were all touched by Tom’s presence and , now, are terribly saddened by his passing. He will be missed. ~ Jeff Louie
It was so sad to hear of Tom’s passing and I can’t imagine your pain, but I hope that our support and prayers and knowledge of Tom’s friendship with all of us will help you through these dark times. ~ Bruce Rosenberg
Tom was a great friend & teammate. I am sorry for your loss. He will be missed. Take care & our prayers are with you. ~ Godfrey (Leung)
Condolences. ~ Andrew Pawlak
I only met Tom a few years ago playing Friday Night Hockey with him. I always remember his “big smile” while skating by the bench. He will be greatly missed. My sincere condolences. ~ Peter Stahl
I was so shocked to hear of Tom’s passing. My deepest condolences for your loss. He was a great guy and will be greatly missed. ~ Richard Cheung
Sorry to hear such sad news. Our thoughts and prayers will be there for you and your families. ~ Tim Chow, Donald Chow
A solid guy who will be sorely missed! Sincere condolences! ~ Jim Lyons
Very sad to hear of our hockey friend’s passing. We will truly miss you. My thoughts and prayers are with Tom’s family. ~ Gord Wong
So sorry to hear such sad news. Tom was a great guy and he will surely be missed. ~ Jan (Chan)
We all remember Tom and his warm, friendly smile. We will truly miss Tom. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family. ~ William (Leung)
Our deepest sympathies and prayers to you. May God bring you comfort for your family. ~ Charles Snelgrove
Flo, I’m still in shock. Tom & I have played so much hockey for so long. It will never be the same. Take care ~ Larry (Hum)
Tom was a great competitor although we just met a few months ago. He was a nice guy to be around. God bless his soul. ~ Phillip Sofianos
I didn’t know Tom for very long, but I knew that he was a great guy. And I know that he was gone too soon. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. ~ Dror Golan
We enjoyed playing with Tom. A great competitor and gentleman. God bless. ~ Harry (Mark)
Tom, he was a great friend and teammate. You’ll be sorely missed. ~ Tom Loo
It’s so sad to hear of Tom’s passing. He was always so nice and gave me a lot of tips on renos. You’ll be missed. ~ Wai Chong
I’m still in disbelief. Tom and I usually sat next to each other in the dressing room and I already miss him badly. ~ Wesley Mark
I know it is years later but I just found out about Tom's death on Friday and wanted to share some anecdotes here as I did not really know any of his friends or family.
ReplyDeleteWhen Tom was finished renovating the house next to mine in Leslieville, the owner threw a little renovation completed party and his and Tom's friends and family came over on like a Sunday afternoon or something and had snacks and drinks in the back yard. I popped in as well and that would probably have been the only time I ever met any of his friends or family, but I do not remember any of them in particular. At any rate, when I got home from work the next day and opened my fridge, all the leftover food and drinks were in there! I figured Tom was going to come back to get it or something so I called him and he said no, he left it all for me. The house was going straight up for sale and the owner was not living there while it was being listed, so he just let himself into my house while I was gone and stocked my fridge.
Another time he called me up out of the blue and said he had helped his brother chop down a tree at his house in Richmond Hill and he had chopped it all up for firewood, but neither of them had a solid-fuel fireplace so would I like to come up with him and haul it away. I think that might have happened twice even. So Tom came by and we went up and loaded up my truck Louise (1989 Ford Econoline E150) and took it back to my place where of course he helped me unload and stack it.
Tom had access to the keys to Louise, and then to Betsy, the F150 I bought to replace here after I literally put my foot through the floor and touched the moving wheel after stepping off the clutch pedal. Tom was the kind of guy whom you immediately knew you could trust with anything, and whom you knew was watching your back as well. Despite doing renovations, he inexplicably drove like a Dodge Caravan or some kind of minivan, so when he needed to collect lumber or drywall or anything big, he would call me up and ask to borrow her, even at the last minute. He did not actually have the key but I actually did not have a lock on my back door at the time (renovating) so he would let himself in and knew where the keys were.
I remember one somewhat mischievous event where he told me after having borrowed Betsy that he had picked up a bunch of lumber or flooring or something which had required him to drive it with the tailgate down, so he took the 407 because he was pretty sure the plate was obscured, but asked me to let him know if I got charged so he could cover it.
Another time he had rented a compressor or maybe it was his, I forget, but it was three times the size and strength of mine. I guy up the street had just painted his Jeep bright yellow with an air paint gun and I asked Tom if I could use his compressor to paint Louise. But rather than lend it to me, he offered to do the job saying he had some experience. So he helped me tape up the windows and chrome and whatnot and then painted the entire enormous thing, a whole afternoon's job when he had plenty of his own work to do, all the while explaining to me what he was doing and essentially tutoring me in case I found myself trying to do it again in the future.
Did I mention the lunches? When Tom and his friend were working on the house next door, they would usually pick up takeout, usually char siu from Ka Ka Lucky on Broadview, and if it was a weekend or for whatever reason he knew I was around, he would inevitably bring an order for me, and never accept any money. I remember he had a philosophy about it, he would not get the roast duck more often than once a week, because it was "too rich" and you had to be moderate with such things.
My house and the one Tom was renovating next to mine were both semis, but not attached, both attached to others. And the front doors and walkways were on the inside half, meaning each house potentially shared stairways with its attached neighbour, but shared a front yard with the detached neighbour. When Tom set out to spruce up the landscaping, he asked me if I wanted to go in on it and do it together. Naturally I agreed - this was a guy who knew his shit and I was not going to turn down that offer. His design was to bust out the concrete retaining walls and replace with pressure-treated sleepers and kind of terrace it and then landscape with shrubs and wood chips on anti-weed fabric. I was of course working at the time and helped out as much as a I could, but clearly he and his friend put in a few more hours than I was capable of. At the same time he busted out and rebuilt the concrete stairs on his friend's house, which were shared with his attached neighbour. They were a gay couple, neither of which were the handyman type, and they were not involved in the project. I remember Tom for some reason jokingly referring to rebar as rhubarb, and I have called it that ever since.
ReplyDeleteWhen the project was complete, Tom showed up one day with a spreadsheet he had put together outlining the costs of all the materials, dividing the yardscaping expenses down the middle with me, and the stairs down the middle with the other neighbour, and obviously no consideration for the disproportionate amount of time and sweat he had put into the project. That was the kind of guy Tom was.
I am not exaggerating when I say that Tom was one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I have ever met. I only knew sort of one aspect of his life but I have no doubt that he was the same with his other friends, family, teammates and complete strangers.