Tom Heffernan

Tom Heffernan died September 22, 2010 after experiencing severe chest pains. He was fifty-eight years old. Tom, a longtime resident of Santa Rosa, went to Assumption Elementary School in San Leandro, St. Joseph's High in Alameda, Chabot College and Sonoma State University. He was a brilliant scholar of the earth and her myriad inhabitants. Tom was awed by the vastness of the land, the oceans, and the universe. He cared intimately about the smallest plants, animals and insects. Tom was an avid biker, he read volumes, and loved passionate discussions into the wee hours of the morning. He loved his friends, family and dogs. Not necessarily in that order. Tom was witty. He was ridiculously funny. Tom was intense and deep. He could take a simple, inane task like organizing a monthly phone call system among his siblings and turn it into an insane marathon of hilarious emails that caught us up and had us waiting daily for each new message. Tom often saw darkness in the future, but gave us hope. We always wanted more of him. Tom is survived by his three sisters and their families: Lois Heffernan and David Bagnard, Garden Valley, Idaho; Jan and Mike Mannion of Camino, California, their son Kevin, their daughter Kaely, her husband Daniel and their son Finley; Ruth and Bert Pierroz of Sacramento and their sons Blair and Grady. Survived also by Elizabeth Wilson, his partner. For information regarding the Memorial Service on October 16th go to: www.tomheffernan.blogspot.com/ Donations in Tom's name can be made to: Landpaths, 618 4th Street (#217), Santa Rosa, California 95404 or The Milo Foundation-Animal Rescue, www.milofoundation.org/help.cfm DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES FUNERAL AND CREMATION 525-3730