Tom Bixby

 

1934 - 2023

Thomas Garth Bixby (“Tom”) was born in Detroit, MI on September 13, 1934, to Garth and Genevieve Bixby.  Tom Bixby died at home peacefully at age 89 in Hartwell, GA.  He is survived by his wife, Ruth Laurene Howell, and his children Debra Bixby Eicher and Thomas Garth Bixby, Jr of Charlotte, NC and Tad Charles Bixby of Seattle, WA.  Tom was also blessed with six grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.  Tom was preceded in death by his parents, his first wife Carol Bixby, and his sister, Sandra Mitchell of Huntington, IN.  Tom showed his family how to love deeply and honestly, never hesitating to show it.

Tom was a mechanical engineer whose career spanned product design, testing, and production, including over 20 US patents. With his first wife, together they raised their family in Indiana prior to opening a restaurant in Georgia. Later, Tom founded an energy conservation solutions company before moving into the concrete drilling and sawing field in South Carolina.

Following the passing of his first wife, Tom moved to Georgia where he found a new loving wife and great happiness in retirement.  He had an especially warm and close relationship with his stepson, Michael Girard, who was a devoted caregiver to Tom in his final years.

Tom Bixby had a lifelong love of music and adventure. Tom loved to sing, investing in vocal training and cutting-edge musical equipment from reel-to-reel stereo HI-FI and turntables. He collected LPs from musicals, accompanying his favorite tracks with his hearty baritone. He ultimately graduated to modern Bose audio equipment while perfecting his epic solo rendition of Old Man River.

Tom enjoyed scuba diving, boating, sailing competitively, piloting sailplanes, bicycling, photography, antique collecting, woodworking, world travel, hiking, and sushi. He was thrilled by sailing, owning multiple hulls, including a racing catamaran.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to support the Mesulam Center's PPA Research and Education Fund, c/o Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 420 E. Superior Street, 9th Floor, Chicago, IL 60611 or feinberg.northwestern.edu/giving.

Services have been entrusted to Coile and Hall Funeral Directors, 333 E. Johnson Street in Hartwell.