Thomas Hale ANDREWS

ANDREWS, Thomas Hale Who championed the littoral life of Massachusetts's Cape Ann, and amidst its masses of granite carpentered the restoration of many of its weathered structures, died of lung cancer, on June 23, in Gloucester. He was 72.

A gathering of remembrance and Celebration of Tom Andrews's Life will take place at the Village Hall, Leonard Street, Annisquam (Gloucester), on Saturday afternoon, October 18, at 2:00 o'clock.

Historic preservation of homes came as a practical expression of Tom's engagement with the history of his family and of the nation, both as conferred by his given middle name that honored Revolutionary War ancestor Nathan Hale, and as sustained by decades of professional carpentry marked by his ingenuity in finding ways to preserve rather than replace historic elements of the houses he met along the way.

One cedar-shingled hillside house in particular, for generations the seat of his mother's family in Annisquam, commanded Tom's devotion. Here, with his wife of 44 years, Janell Daubin (Ellis) Andrews, Tom raised two daughters, Kirsten Wilder Andrews and Katharine Otzen (Andrews) Bugbee. And it was here that he brought order to its jumbled trove of historic letters, photos and artifacts for the lasting benefit of his grateful extended family.

Tom Andrews was born in Doylestown, PA, on June 1, 1953, the second of the five children of Robert Nathan Hale Andrews, successively a school teacher, college professor and school headmaster; and of Patricia Woodward (Baldwin) Andrews, a librarian and homemaker. Tom's childhood revealed copious curiosity and at times mischievous behavior. At a boarding school Tom attended, it is reported that he was seen at least once in company with a monkey. Tom graduated; the monkey did not. At 14, his footloose spirit lured Tom into a 400-mile bicycle trek from New York City to Montreal's Expo 67 world exposition with a brother and a lightly supervising uncle.

Tom attended Tufts College, but in heated times left there to join George McGovern's presidential campaign. Four years later his Democratic Party allegiance was cemented working to elect Jimmy Carter president. Tom and Janell married in 1981, and in all the decades that followed, at the frequent gatherings of friends they brought together, Tom was known for convivial political and sports banter wrapped around his signature meal presentations and favored bourbon. Tom traveled regularly to other shores, from Alaskan waters to Florida's Keys, reuniting and camping with family and friends.

In addition to his wife and daughters, Tom Andrews is survived by his granddaughter, Ada Rosamond Bugbee, a joy to her Pop-Pop born in 2022; by brothers, Kenneth and Jonathan Andrews; and sisters, Jane and Susan Andrews, all pledged to maintain his joie de vivre; and by nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins and countless good companions, including members of the Blood Ledge Poker Group.

Of Thomas Hale Andrews all who knew him will recall his sincerity, wit, kindness and engagement in life. The family suggests that, in Tom's memory, local newspaper subscriptions be opened, and bluets planted.