Tom Paxton

May 20, 1925 - April 27, 2015
Tom Lynn Paxton, First Sergeant, U.S. Army, Retired

Tom Lynn Paxton, born 20 May 1925 in Prattsville, Arkansas, died Monday, 27 April 2015, in San Antonio, Texas. He was called home by his Lord to be reunited with his beloved wife, Judy, after six long years apart-not the timeline Dad had envisioned when Mother died in 2009, but we are very grateful for every extra minute we had with Dad. The son of the late Laura Paxton Beasley and grandson of the late James Benton and Bessie Lee Paxton, he lived in Prattsville until he was drafted in 1943 and became part of what would later be called America's greatest generation. An expert marksman, he was a machine gunner in New Guinea and the Philippines. After making one too many complaints about the coffee, Dad was assigned to mess duty when not on the frontlines and, after the war ended, he actually went to Army cooks' school. Although Mother and Dad both grew up in Prattsville, it was not until after the war when they ran into each other in Little Rock that they fell in love and they married 1 June 1946. Dad's military career took him and us, when dependents were allowed, to Fort Hood, the Aleutian Islands, Washington, D.C., back to Fort Hood, Germany, Fort Sill, France and again to Fort Hood, where he retired as a First Sergeant in June 1964. After retirement from the Army, Dad opened his first insurance agency just outside Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas. He would eventually add two more offices-one outside Fort Sam Houston and one outside Randolph AFB. He sold the agencies in 1980 and retired again, but not for long. When he was offered a job as a marketing rep for International Service Insurance Company, he and Mother hit the road in their RV visiting agents throughout the South and Southwest. In 1983, he became Vice President of Marketing for International Service Insurance Company, and he and Mother moved to Fort Worth. Dad retired for the third and final time in 1987 and they returned to San Antonio. Dad never met a stranger and would strike up a conversation with anyone, anywhere. He loved working in his "Honey-Do HQ," tinkering with his truck, attending RV rallies in the state and across the country, watching car races, and spending time with friends, old and new, and with his girls and their husbands. Survivors include daughters Judith Lynn Hyndman and husband Jerry of San Antonio and Lisbeth Leigh Kirsh and husband Allen of Austin; sister Phyllis Colaianni and husband Larry Gillen; sister-in-law Jamie York; and grandchildren Paxton Kirsh and husband Andrew Sharrett, Morgan Kirsh, Krystal Hyndman Crowder and husband Chris, Michael Hyndman and Lisa Hyndman. We want to thank Dad's hospice nurse Latonya Roberts, his in-home caregivers Martha Garcia, Patricia Mesch, Rose Escobedo, and Maria Velasquez, and hospice aide Casey Ovalle for their skilled, dedicated and compassionate care and support of Dad and us during his final months.

Memorial Service
Monday, 4 May 2015, 1:00 p.m.
Eisenhauer Road Baptist Church
3950 Eisenhauer Road
San Antonio, Texas 78218

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to: Shriners Hospital for Children-Galveston, Attn: Administration, 815 Market Street, Galveston, TX 77550 or a charity of your choosing.