Alumni News

Illini Media loses one of it's best – Tom Thomas.

Posted by: Kit Donahue on 2008-05-13 08:28:48

Our dear friend, Tom Thomas, passed away today (Saturday) in Wheaton, IL from an apparent aortic dissection. He really didn't have a chance.

I spoke with fellow WPGU alum John Strandin tonight and learned that Tom's wife, Laurie (who was in Houston), said he was out for dinner last night (Friday) with a friend in Chicago and didn't feel well. He went home and was feeling worse, so his dad called 911. Tom walked out to the ambulance. He was admitted to the hospital where things were stabilized, but the blood tests looked funny. They planned to keep him overnight and do more tests in the morning. He didn't make it . Aortic dissection is 80% fatal and the majority of those who have it don't even make it to the hospital.

Tom and I spent the weekend together April 11-13 in Champaign-Urbana doing something we both loved: returning to our WPGU roots. The occasion was the 40th Anniversary of Folk & Music at the Red Herring. Many of you to whom this message is addressed were there and met Tom for the first time. Others among us have known Tom for over 30 years. Tom was very passionate about his sense of music and music history . . . with a PhD in Champaign-Urbana and Chicago folk music trivia. Tom and I decided to rekindle our youth at the Red Herring Reunion and it was a glorious event. Tom and I certainly weren't going to miss the reunion of The Ship and we both brought our vintage albums for autographs . . . Tom even had Tornado! The photo attached is the only one with Tom. Fittingly, it also includes someone who was also there to rekindle the magic of Champaign-Urbana, our friend Megon McDonough. She autographed her albums, too. I'm on the left and Tom is on the right.

For those of you who are in the Chicago area, the tentative arrangements are for visitation on Monday night and a funeral service on Tuesday. I'm sure details will be in the Chicago Tribune. Here's the link: http://www.legacy.com/chicagotribune/Obituaries.asp.

My last e-mail from Tom was on Thursday night. He'd just finished his work on the application to get Dan Fogelberg into the Illini Media Hall of Fame (thanks to the great detective work of Kit Donahue's staff and leads from the Ship family) and was collecting additional information to support another application for a WPGU legend who's on this distribution list. Tom had boundless energy and left us way too soon.

Ed Sackley
(269) 569-7300

Hultgren Funeral Home

Thomas L. Thomas Jr.
(Died May 10, 2008)

Thomas L. Thomas Jr., age 54, a resident of Wheaton, died suddenly Saturday, May 10 at the Central Du Page Hospital.
He is survived by his wife, Lauri, two daughters, Heather and Shannon Homolka and his father Thomas L. Thomas Sr.

He was preceded in death by his mother Marie Thomas.

Visitation will be held at Hultgren Funeral Home 304 N. Main St. in Wheaton on Tuesday, May 13, from 3:00-9:00 p.m. A funeral service
will be held Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. at St. Matthew United Church of Christ, 1420 S. Gables, Wheaton, Illinois 60187. Interment will be
held at Wheaton Cemetery.

Family and friends may sign a guest book at hultgrenfh.com. For more information, please call Hultgren Funeral Home at 630-668-0027.