Thomas Edwin "Tom" Fenner

1934 - 2019

- Oct. 12, 1934 - April 26, 2019 -

Tom Fenner took his first and last breaths in different rooms of the same Washington, Missouri, hospital. A room with a view on his last day, one with a direct line of sight to his East 3rd Street home, the three spires that anchor his town to the wide Missouri, and the people and places he loved his whole life.

Tom's American ancestry traced back to 1619 and the first permanent English settlement in Jamestown, Va., as well as to some of the earliest (about 1828) Missouri pioneer families, (the Gentrys, Glascocks and Woodsons), near Hannibal. He was of both English and German descent.

Tom was the only child of Dr. Edwin C. Fenner and Mary D. Glascock. His father was a Washington osteopath and his mother a teacher. Tom shared in his father's love of playing the piano. When people gathered to celebrate the end of World War II, 10-year-old Tom sat on top of an upright piano in the middle of the intersection of 2nd and Elm Streets as his father played for hours while people danced in the street.

Tom graduated from Washington High School in 1952. He played basketball and proudly constituted half of the tuba section in band. His father died as he entered the University of Missouri in Columbia. He was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, QEBH Senior Honorary Society, and was president of the Inter Fraternity Council. He received a commission through the Naval ROTC program and entered the Navy as an ensign, serving finally as Lieutenant JG on the Admiral's Staff of the Commander Carrier Division 7, Western Pacific, which was an exciting billet for a 23-year-old sailor. His stateroom was below the catapult of the aircraft carrier USS Bonhomme Richard, and he often said that his quarters trained him to be able to sleep through anything. He once escorted Madame Chiang Kai-shek aboard the ship.

Upon ending his active tour with the Navy, he married Sharon Olsen in Minneapolis, Minn., on his 24th birthday (smart is a man who never forgets his anniversary). Making their home in Los Angeles, Sharon flew with TWA, and Tom worked as a salesman for Reynolds Metals Company in aluminum sales and as a sales manager for Industrial Asphalt. Laura and Chris were both born in southern California, and the family lived there until moving to Washington in 1970, where Tom was employed in sales by the Hazel Company until 1986. From 1986 to 1990, Tom was the general manager of the Sheltered Workshop in Washington. He claimed it was his favorite job: "Where else can you go to work and have the employees hug you?"?Tom was elected Franklin County Presiding Commissioner and served from 1991 to 1994. He retired in 1995.

Tom is survived by his wife, Sharon, and his two daughters, Laura Fenner, Washington, and Christine Perisich, Raleigh, N.C. Chris and Mark Perisich have two sons, Jack and Nicholas, who named their grandfather "Tompa."?

Tom was a member of The Presbyterian Church of Washington, where he served as an elder, the Elks, the American Legion, and was a 32nd degree Mason and Shriner. He served on the Washington Industrial Development Board, Board of the Crider Health Centers, Washington United Fund Board of Directors, East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, and the Development Disabilities Resource Board of St. Charles County. He was a member of the Friends Foundation (Emmaus), Washington Historical Society, and was a proud BIL of the PEO Sisterhood.

Years ago, Tom worked hard for the passage of Senate Bill 40 in support of the developmentally disabled. Throughout his life, Tom enjoyed the companionship of three memorable dogs, playing the piano every evening, fishing for trout, a round or two of golf, Cardinals baseball, coffee at Cowan's, playing hundreds of hands of bridge, raw onions, solving the world's problems, and telling a good story.

A memorial service was held Friday, May 3, at The Presbyterian Church of Washington, followed by interment at the church cemetery. Memorial donations may be given to The Presbyterian Church of Washington, (4834 South Point Road, Washington, MO 63090), The Friends Foundation, (P.O. Box 62, Marthasville, MO 63357), or Exceptional Equestrians of the Missouri Valley (785 Yellow Finch Lane, Washington, MO 63090).

Arrangements were in care of Oltmann Funeral Home, Washington.