Thomas Gay

1929 - 2022

Thomas David Gay



David Gay died on May 4, 2022, in the arms of his wife, Ilse. His two beloved sons, Joel and Daniel, were also at his bedside. Born on April 9, 1929, in Wilkes Barre, Penn., to Floyd and Anna Gay, his family

resettled in Albuquerque in 1933 to manage his older brother's life-threatening asthma. Thanks to a chance meeting with the late Senator Clinton P. Anderson in an elevator, Floyd became a rural mail-carrier, while Anna became an elementary school teacher in the South Valley. She started teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in Coyote Springs, a farming community now on Kirtland Air Force Base. She soon found herself one child short of the minimum to keep the school open, so she enrolled five-year-old David in the first grade; forevermore, David was always a year younger than his school classmates. He attended the old North Fourth Street School, Washington Junior High and Albuquerque High School, graduating in 1946. In 1950, David graduated from UNM with a degree in mechanical engineering and an Ensign's stripe in the US Navy. He was assigned to a destroyer and quickly sailed with the Pacific Fleet as the Korean War started. On a trip back to the United States in 1951, David married Ilse, his college sweetheart, on Mare Island, Calif., in a traditional Navy ceremony, complete with crossed swords with a slightly tipsy retired naval commander presiding. After two more trips to the Korean theater, he left the Navy and he and Ilse and their three little boys returned to NM, settling down in

a house on

Matthew Avenue where they lived until David's

death. David

worked for ACF Industries, Dow Chemical and,

starting in 1969, General Electric Aircraft Company until his retirement in 1997.

David started skiing at La Madera (now Ski Sandia) when gas rationing was lifted after WWII, and he skied around the world until well into his eighties. For many years David was a volunteer ski instructor, as well as a volunteer in the Habitat for Humanities Re-Store.

David was the ultimate Boy Scout: "trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly,

courteous, kind,

obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent." He was never known to speak ill of anyone, past presidents excluded, and he made a profound and lasting impression on all who knew him.

David is survived by his wife of 71 years, Ilse, sons Joel and Daniel, granddaughter Anna Gay, grandsons Matthew Beaumont Gay, and David Orlando Gay and wife Emily

Kapp, and his great-

granddaughter, Sophia

Grace. He has been cremated and his ashes will be comingled with Ilse's upon her death. He was predeceased by his brothers, James and Charles.

A memorial service will be held at Shepherd of the Valley Church on Montano Road NW on June 4 at

10a.m.. In lieu of flowers please send donations to Heading Home, 215 Third Street SW, Albuquerque, NM.