Thomas Standard

Thomas Aden Standard passed away peacefully on March 1, 2026, at the VA Hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado. He was 92 years old. A celebration of life will be held at Bookcliff Baptist Church in Grand Junction, on March 20th at 10:30am.

Tom was a consummate storyteller, and he lived 92 years' worth of good ones. Born during the Great Depression in 1933, Tom spent his youth in Kentucky and Louisiana. He and his brother Charles spent the years of WWII collecting and selling scrap for the war effort, doing odd jobs to help support the family, and raising carrier pigeons in New Orleans... More passionate about adventuring than schooling, he was sent to finish high school at Perkinston High School and Junior College in Mississippi. For the rest of his life, Tom’s favorite story to tell would be this one: going to the town’s church the first Sunday that he was in Perkinston and falling in love at first sight with the pianist. Her name was Mary Alice Price, and they were together from that day on.

Tom joined the Army at the tail end of the Korean War and was stationed in Germany. Upon his return, Tom dove headlong into an engineering career spent at the edge of technological development throughout the mid-century. In the 1950s, while working in Chattanooga, Tennessee, he was convinced of the potential of computers although few others in his boiler manufacturing company were. He learned to program on a tiny, primitive machine and, eventually, transformed his company’s unit with the new technology. He then got a job with Boeing where he contributed to building Saturn 5, the launch vehicle for the Apollo Mission to the moon. After that project, Tom and Mary moved to New England where he returned to a career in boiler design. Once again, he singlehandedly created computer programs for the company’s manufacturing design department – although now the machines were bigger, more sophisticated, and had whole teams using them. Tom returned to Chattanooga during the later years of his career and retired from Astec Industries. Tom was proud of his career and never, through the very end, lost his curiosity, love of learning, and interest in science.

In retirement, Tom and Mary bought 100 acres in Western Maine bordered on the north by a branch of the Nezinscot River. Tom created miles of trails through the woods for hiking and snowshoeing. While snowshoeing one winter, they found a big tree which was later determined to be the largest Eastern White Pine in the State of Maine. Tom built a little cabin deep in the woods where he and Mary would camp out during meteor showers or full moons. As his ability to work in his woods waned, Tom took his story-telling talents to the local elementary schools and introduced another generation to the tales of Tom Standard.

But all that paled to the passion Tom had for his family. He and Mary had two children, Beth and Charles. Tom made sure that their childhood was full of adventure and he ignited their curiosity about the natural world around them. Tom’s time with the Army in Germany sparked his love of travelling. He and Mary travelled often with Tom’s brother, Charles, and sister-in-law, Luella to see all corners of the United States and as much of the globe as they could manage. Tom’s adventurousness and skills as a storyteller made him a very fine grandfather to eight also-adventurous and often-gullible grandchildren who grew into adults that, like him, love to explore, learn, and will do anything (even ill advised!) for a good story.

Tom is survived by his beloved wife of 70 years, Mary Alice Price Standard; his two children and their spouses: Beth and Charlie Maddaus, and Charles and Luz Maria Standard; eight grandchildren, Ethan Ray, Heather Standard Mauer, Sara Ray, Molly Radwany, Peter Standard, Archie Ray, Charlie Standard Jr., and Alice Standard; and eight great-grandchildren who were fortunate to have many memorable years with their great-grandfather. He will be missed by all.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to your local library or church and tell a story to a child.