Thomas Charles Wilson

Thomas Charles Wilson was the third child (eldest son) of seven that was born to the union of Thomas I. and Mildred J. Wilson.

Tom's love was for his family, however, his passion was cars. Not just cars, trucks, motorcycles, scooters, whatever was on wheels and he could make go. As a boy, Tom would wait for his dad to go to work and he would "borrow" the lawn mower engine to make a go cart. There were two major problems with this plan (1) he didn't equip the go cart with brakes and (2) he had to have the engine back on the lawn mower before his dad got home!

As Tom grew older his expertise with cars grew too. Tom quickly became the "go to guy" for anyone who needed help with building or rebuilding cars. Tom was always tinkering with some type of vehicle. From the old 3 wheel mailcart to the German Scooter the more unique the vehicle the more he liked it.

Tom married Rita (Frazer) on September 12, 1964.  Together they had five daughters: Vicki, Judy, Lisa, Lynn and Carrie. Tom worked very hard to support his family as a millwright. He made ends meet for his growing family by working on cars. Tom did everything that needed to be done around the house. He replaced the water heater, worked on the furnace (including the time he singed the hair on his arms off and lost his eyebrows), poured concrete, built a garage, whatever had to be done he found the time to fix.

Tom worked hard but played even harder He prided himself on building and racing his own cars. Tom started out with a street legal hot rod and graduated to build his own stock car. He even made the trailer for his car out of a mobile home frame. Tom enjoyed working with his brother-in-law George and his godson Rodney in building a hot rod from the frame on up. Tom could be found, out in his garage with his best buds Eugene, Bill, and Murphy (rest in peace), There wasn't a problem that these guys couldn't solve.

Tom was a very smart man. If he needed something, he built it. While cleaning out his garage there were several tools that were found that he "invented”. An ordinary dust pan would not have garnered a second glance, but to see the individual welds meant that it was a customized Tom tool. Tom loved clocks. Big ones, little ones, those that worked, and those that didn't. The grandkids would play a game of going in his office and trying to come up with the correct number of clocks.

Tom was a great man to many, but to me he was simply my dad. There was no one else like him and there will never be anyone like him. He could be a big strong tough guy but was as gentle as could be when he gave you a big hug. As long as you were in his arms, you were safe and would always be.