Tom Whitehead

WHITEHEAD, Tom "Tommy"

Tom "Tommy" Whitehead, 1949 – 2024

Thomas Alexander Whitehead was born in rural South Carolina. His father, John Daniel owned the General Store in Union County and his mother, Montez worked in Spartanburg when not volunteering at their local polling center. During his first year in school, Tommy loved listening to Miss Evvie's lessons in her one room schoolhouse whether it was to Grade 1, 2 or 3. One day he came home crying, his mother asking, "Why?" and his response was "I don't have any homework." The one photo he kept on his dresser until the day he died was of Elnora, who cared for Tommy and his brother while his parents were working. Elnora would routinely ask, "What would you like for dinner?" even though she knew their reply, "T-bone steak and a baked potato." He always loved recalling stories about Elnora.

Tommy graduated from Wofford College magna cum laude in 1970, and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society. After graduating from medical school in Charleston, SC in 1974, he completed his internship and residency at Emory University and Grady Memorial Hospital in 1978. It was in the new emerging field of radiation oncology that Dr. Whitehead served in private practice throughout Atlanta, GA. Loved by his patients and co-workers, he brought professionalism, compassion and a light-heartedness to his work. From "Thank God it's Monday" all the way to "Well, I guess he's on his way to Chicago" whenever a patient passed away. Some of his favorite pasttimes during his career were skiing in Aspen, CO, hosting dinner parties with Ken Purnell, and enjoying relaxing weekends in Cashiers, NC.

In 2011, he went on a Mediterranean cruise and in Rome met his future spouse, David Farrar. The West Coast was a wonderful region for them to spend his last dozen years between Palm Springs and Whidbey Island. As a lover of botany and animals, their trips to The Galapagos and the African continent were among his favorites.

First diagnosed with cancer in January 2021, he experienced remission and recurrence, handling each day with the same grace in which he lived his entire life. The synergy with his treating oncologist, Dr. Law provided thankful intervals of feeling normal and happy, even up until the very end. During his last week on this earth he even said, "He was ready to go" and "excited" about his own personal trip to Chicago. Tom passed away peacefully at home on January 15, 2024. He is survived by his spouse, David Farrar; his only sibling, Danny (three years his senior); sister-in-law, Ginger; his niece, Dr. Shelley Whitehead, husband, Dan and their twins, Monroe and Gage; his nephew, Seth, wife, Nina and children, Samuel and Ella; and dear friends, Pam Barrow in Atlanta, GA, and Lynda Hutchinson in Aiken, SC. Half of Tommy's ashes will be scattered in Puget Sound and the other half interred in the Family Plot in West Springs, SC.