Tom R. Ajax

Tom R. Ajax passed away on January 10, 2024 in Gainesville, Florida, at the age of 74. Tom was born in Provo, Utah on January 12, 1949 to Helen Alleman and Richard Emery Ajax.
While growing up, Tom lived in various locations including Utah, Idaho, Montana and Washington State. He graduated from Olympia High School in Olympia, Washington in 1967. While in High School, he developed a love of music. He served as drum major of the high school band and played in a garage band (named Ferogs, pronounced Frogs, later changed to PXTLF) with several of his friends. Following graduation, he attended college at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah for one year before serving a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in South Korea from November of 1968 to May of 1971. Upon return from his mission he finished his education at BYU where he completed a Bachelor's Degree in Economics, a Minor in Asian Studies and a Masters of Business Administration. He graduated in 1975.
After graduation he took a job in Tampa, Florida, where he met his eternal companion, Retha Ann Tindall. One year later, Tom moved for work to Vancouver, WA and proceeded to plan his wedding to Retha across 3000 miles, via many long-distance phone calls. Tom and Retha were sealed for time and all eternity in the Manti, Utah Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on September 10, 1976. They then traveled back to Washington State where they soon started their family of 6 beautiful children.
Tom worked for many years as a general manager for banks in Washington and Utah before moving to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as an Auditor, then later as a Fraud Examiner. He worked for the FDIC offices in Gainesville, FL, Atlanta, GA and Washington D.C. over a period of 16 years before retiring in 2017. During all his working years, he was an active member of the International Rotary Club, where he held positions of treasurer, vice president and earned the distinguished honor of the Paul Harris Fellowship Award.
Tom was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He held several callings, including serving as Bishop within the church and had an unwavering testimony of Jesus Christ. He was involved in many church activities and served with the Boy Scouts and the church youth organization for several years. Throughout his life, Tom had a deep love for music, which was evidenced by his tendency to break into song at any opportunity, with or without music in the background. He had a beautiful singing voice that he loved to share with those around him and sang in many choirs as much as he was able.
Tom is survived by his wife, Retha, six children Rachel (Chris) McArthur, Rebecca Muller, Amy (Steven) Naisbitt, Joseph (Whitney) Ajax, Mary (Hans) Meinsma, and Sabrina Ajax, one sister Susan (Ken) Struve and sixteen grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents and grandson, Spencer Ajax.
A viewing will be held at the Forest Meadows Funeral Home, 725 NW 23rd Ave, Gainesville, FL 32609 on January 17, 2024 from 5:30-7:30 pm.
A small family service will be held at the Walker Sanderson Funeral Home in Provo, Utah. Burial will follow at the Historic Springville City Cemetery. Forest Meadows Funeral Home in FL and Walker Sanderson Funeral Home in UT are handling the funeral arrangements.