Having expressed my initial shock, sadness and condolences in a previous post, indulge me while I relate a couple of stories about Tom.
When I first started attending benchrest matches at Visalia, it was as a spectator. Our two clubs (one near Fresno, and the Visalia club) had shared a set of bench forms (not just tops, but the entire benches) that I had been in charge of building. This took me to the Visalia range, to see the prototype bench that had replaced one on that firing line. I made the trip on a match weekend, since Lee Six (who had built a prototype form and bench) would be there shooting. Starting with that exposure, I was interested enough to attend several more, over a period of time, before I got my own PPC.
At a later match, on a Saturday morning, I arrived with earmuffs in hand and immediately noticed a large number of new sand bags, of all sorts and configurations that were displayed for sale. After looking them over for a bit, since I had only seen some of them in ads, I asked who was selling them, expecting that some vendor had brought his wares. It turned out that Tom was selling them. Rather than taking half measures, he had bought, filled and tried every bag that was available at the time, kept the one that he preferred, and was in the process of selling the rest. I am pretty sure that, given that they were all in perfect condition, and ready to go, that he got most if not all of his money back, and had solved the question of what bag was the best I thought rather splendidly. Even now, I smile as I think about it.
The other story took place many years later. It was on a Thursday or Friday, before a match at the same range, and I was sitting visiting by the loading tables, just behind the shooting benches, when Tom walked up with a target in his hand. It seems that he had been doing first firings on some of the then new Norma 6PPC brass (the stuff that has harder heads) shooting rather mild loads, well below what he would have at a match. The groups on the target were quite small, and Tom was both pleased, and surprised, given that they were at such low velocity, and really just done to put the first firings on some newly prepared cases. After we admired the groups, and discussed the load, and everyone had returned to their various tasks, it struck me that for him to have shot that series of small groups , that his form must have been virtually perfect, and so I found a spot that was far enough from the bench that he was shooting from so that he would not be distracted, and waited for his to return to his practice. It turns out that my instinct was correct, every single move that he made was exactly as it should have been, all perfectly consistent, well worth my time to study.
The point of this is that in addition to being the clown prince of benchrest, Tom could shoot, He made the US Worlds Benchrest Campionship team, and was so committed to attending the match that he took the long flight to (I believe) Australia, very shortly (three days?) after having his gall bladder removed. Having had the same procedure, I can tell you that he was tough, to have made that flight and shot that match. One of the pictures that was posted during that match was of Tom asleep at his loading table, for those that saw it, now you have the rest of the story. He had good reason to be tired.
Beyond that, he is in the record book, an exclusive club if there ever was one. As I write this, he owns two group records, the 100yd 10 shot unlimited , and the 200 yard five shot Sporter. There are a total of fifteen group records, held by 13 shooters, and he and Gary Ocock are the only ones whose own two.
There are some people that you feel lucky to have known, even a little, that leave a big hole when they are gone. Tom was one of those people.