Thomas Thorndike

1954 - 2024

Thomas Thorndike, a San Mateo resident for nearly fifty years, passed away on January 8, 2024, after a brief illness. He is pre-deceased by his parents, Thomas Thorndike Sr., and Roberta Thela Walker, both of Calistoga, California. He is survived by his three children, Ryan, Alicia and Aaron, three sisters, Julia Crane, Karen Ball and Cristina Thorndike Pederson, one brother, Charles Thorndike, two grandchildren, eight nieces and nephews and two former wives, Kathy Sakai and Marcia Steadman Thorndike.

Tom had a great country-boy childhood in Calistoga, free to roam and explore, build forts and fish for trout in the Napa River. His two great loves were baseball and music. He played on Little League teams as a child, then on the Calistoga High School team and later in an adult league organized at his workplace. As a teen he taught himself to play guitar and continued playing music with friends over the years. He was also a wonderful guitar teacher, always happy to pass on his guitar knowledge and inspire a love of music in the next generation.

Tom began working at an early age. He worked at Mitchell's, the corner grocery store in Calistoga, and his stepfather Tom Crane's business, Crane's Nursery. He worked in the greenhouse behind their home in Calistoga and also helped to build and maintain the nursery's prize-winning Garden and Landscape displays at Bay Area county fairs every summer.

Tom worked as a delivery driver in the Bay Area for companies including TNT, DHL and Airborne Express. He was an excellent driver, well-respected for his dependable work record and well-liked by his by coworkers and the many people he interacted with daily at his delivery stops. He was always friendly and light-hearted, and he remembered everyone he met on his routes.

At home Tom was a loving and patient dad. He especially enjoyed taking his family camping every summer, spending the days swimming and fishing in the Eel River and evenings around the campfire cooking fresh-caught trout and roasting marshmallows. He was also well-known for his backyard vegetable garden and the delicious tomatoes, zucchini and hot chili peppers that he grew and shared with friends and neighbors.

Everyone who knew Tom will remember him for the enthusiasm and delight he showed for life's seemingly small gifts: music so beautiful he'd get goosebumps as he listened, Jayson, the California scrub jay he befriended and taught to eat peanuts from his hand, tomatoes and zucchini from his garden that tasted, "sweeter than candy," and many more daily wonders.

Tom was a wonderfully upbeat, easy-going person. He found joy in everything he did, and his enthusiasm for life brightened the world for everyone. He lives on in the memories and the hearts of all the people whose lives he touched.

Messages and memories can be posted on Tom's tribute page at colmacremation.com. In lieu flowers, please give a donation in Tom's name to the nonprofit of your choice.