Thomas I. Meehan Jr.

1942 - 2011

Thomas I. Meehan Jr. Remembered

Thomas I. Meehan Jr., formerly a resident of Eugene Oregon from 1971 to 1987, passed away July 26, 2011.

Tom was born July 1, 1942 in Utica, NY. He was the eldest son of Thomas and Ruth Meehan Sr. previously of Carthage. The majority of his life until he was 20 was spent in the Carthage area. He graduated from Carthage Central High School where he was active on the wrestling and ski teams. Following high school, he attended Clarkson College until 1962 and graduated from Louisiana State University in 1964. He joined Crown Zellerbach in St. Francisville, La, and eventually moved to Antioch, CA where he met and married Frances, formerly from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in 1966.

He was transferred to Wauna, Oregon and continued working for Crown Zellerbach while attending Law School at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.

Tom Graduated from Lewis and Clark in 1971, passed the Oregon State Bar exam and immediately joined the Lane County District Attorney's office in Eugene, Oregon as a trial attorney. He served as executive trial counsel in charge of the trial division before leaving the office to conduct his own business trading commodities in 1986.

In 1987 Tom joined the United States Attorney's Office in Houston, TX where he served in the Narcotics Division before being named chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a federal multi-agency undercover narcotics interdiction group responsible for drug enforcement in the southern district of Texas. Following a nine year stint as chief, he was named chief of organized crime enforcement, involving international money laundering and conspiracy matters. Tom retired in 2008 due to health issues that were complicated by COPD and emphysema.

He is a member of the Oregon State Bar, the Federal District of Oregon Bar, the Fifth and Ninth Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals, the Southern District of Texas Federal Bar and the United College of District Attorney's Career prosecutor course and served for a time as an instructor for the Oregon Police Academy where he taught Search and Seizure and Arrest law. He was also a Special Agent for the US Marshall's agency. During his 37 year career as a prosecutor he has been responsible for over 1,500 jury trials and twice that number of non-jury trials.

Tom and his wife Frances of almost 45 years, made their home in Spring, Texas just north of Houston. Tom is survived by his wife Frances; sons: Thomas I Meehan III, Patrick Edward Meehan, Sr., daughter-in-law Arianne Meehan, grandson, Patrick Edward Meehan, Jr.; his mother and father Thomas and Ruth Meehan Sr. of Camas WA, and siblings: John, Ellen, Erin and Colleen; his brother and sister-in-law, John and Linda McHugh. Tom was pre-deceased by his brother Richard Meehan.

Tom had a lot of interests he had hoped to pursue during his retirement, He was an avid skier, woodworker, writer, poet and pilot. He was in the process of writing a book concerning the oil and credit crisis which at this point will remain unfinished.

A memorial service was held at the Brookside Funeral Home on August 6, 2011. If you would like to see the Everlaster Memorial at the Brookside Funeral Home website, you can view a video of Tom's life in pictures and if you choose you can leave a message in the on-line guest book. This is something we will get to keep as a family forever. This is the link that will give you access to that web site:

http://www.brooksidechampions.com/dm20/en_US/locations/27/2732/index.page

Tom passed away due to complications from COPD. He is at peace in a place more wonderful than we can imagine and for that we are eternally grateful. Those of us left behind are naturally very sad and feel a huge void in our lives. We are a very close family and we know that one day we will all be together again.

Please sign the guest book at www.registerguard.com/legacy