WARREN

THOMAS EDWARD WARREN 1933-2022

Thomas Edward Warren of Potomac passed away peacefully on Thursday, June 23, 2022. Originally from Nashville TN, Tom graduated form David Lipscomb College in 1955 with a degree in accounting. He then served in the Navy in Hawaii where he was the editor of the sub base Pearl Harbor newspaper. He returned to Nashville to get his Masters degree from Peabody Vanderbilt. He was recruited as the business manager for Peabody's AID project in Korea where the focus was rebuilding the education system after the Korean War. That experience made him decide on a different career path. He returned to Peabody/Vanderbuilt where he earned a Doctor of Education degree in 1964.

Tom began his 30 year career with MCPS at Pyle Junior High as assistant principal. He opened Cabin John Junior High as principal. He then opened Wootton High School before taking a leave of absence for two years to serve as Director of Peace Corps Micronesia.

Upon his return from leave he was assigned to Richard Montgomery where he supervised a major renovation of the building during his seven years there,

Another overseas opportunity presented itself and he took a two year leave to serve as principal of the Singapore American School.

At the conclusion of his leave, he returned to take the helm of Sherwood High School which also underwent renovation.

His last assignment before retiring was the planning and opening of Quince Orchard High School. In 1992 he was honored by the Washington Post with the Distinguished Educational Leadership Award.

Survivors include his wife of 54 years , Ann, his son Jim (Kristy), and daughter Jessie Sciulli (Mike) as well as four grandchildren.

Services will be held July 9 at 11 a.m. at St. Francis Episcopal Church, Potomac.

In lieu of ?owers, memorials may be made to Casey House or Alzheimer's Association.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Washington Post on Jul. 3, 2022.

Memories and Condolences
for Thomas Warren

1 Entry

Leon Busche

July 7, 2022

I was saddened to hear of Tom's death. He was an important part of my teaching career and also a very good friend. He was assistant principal at T. W. Pyle Junior High School when I did my student teaching there in the spring of 1967. He was a dynamic personality who encouraged me, often coming unannounced into my classroom to tell the students how lucky they were to have me as their teacher.

He left Pyle after that year to open Cabin John Junior High School. I was hired as a teacher and stayed at Pyle for another seven years, interrupted by a single year at the American School in London.

For the next twenty years we met occasionally at county meetings. I had gone on to become the social studies resource teacher at Ridgeview Junior High in 1975, and, in the spring of 1988, I interviewed for that position at the new Quince Orchard High School. I was hoping to get the position and to work with Dr. Warren once again. I was so motivated that I spent more than my allotted time in the interview. Dr. Richard Wilson, the social studies coordinator for MCPS was at that interview, and he later related that when my interview ended and I had left, Tom had remarked, good naturedly, that he thought I would never shut up! Anyway, he honored me by hiring me, and I spent the next seven good years working with him at QOHS.

The amazing thing about him was that his personality never changed in the almost thirty years of our professional relationship and friendship. He was the same encouraging person he had been since my student teaching days at Pyle. Whenever we ran into one another at meetings, he was always interested in how things were going for me. Our conversations over years were seamless; it was as though we had not had long periods without contact. I don't think he was surprised that I had applied for the Quince Orchard position; he welcomed me as an old friend, which, I guess, I was at that point.

He once told me that his children, when they were very young, thought he was a famous celebrity. He was a school administrator and, wherever they went, it seemed that everyone knew him, because they would always address him " hi, Dr. Warren!" It was only when they got older that they realized that his "celebrity" was very local and not worldwide, as they had once thought. He told me that they waited until they were in college to let him know what they had thought as kids.

That actually said a lot about the kind of person he was. People who knew him felt that he knew them also. And he mostly did! He knew the students in his schools and was part of the school community, attending athletic and other events that his students were engaged in.

My daughters, Karen and Susan, both graduated from Quince Orchard High School, and they were always amazed that he was at their swim meets, and marching band events. Karen's smile as she received her diploma from Tom in 1996 was captured by a county photographer and was used in a later MCPS publication. Her smile was notably amazing as she shook Tom's hand. Both of my daughters are now teachers.

He was missed at QOHS after he retired in 1996, but the traditions that he inspired continued long after. Parents commented at commencement year after year that they were amazed that almost the entire faculty attended the graduation ceremonies. It meant a lot to them, and was unlike many other high schools, where teachers were rarely present at graduations, it is a tradition at QOHS to this day. For Tom, it was simple: why wouldn't the teachers be there for the graduates? He encouraged us all to attend and made it easy for us to do so. That has been the faculty attitude ever since.

I could go on and on, but I wanted to let you know that Tom has been an important person in my life. He inspired me and many others to do our best for our students. He is remembered fondly by those of us who worked with him as well as, like my daughters, those who attended the schools he led and inspired. And he was always --- always --- a great friend!

The world is now a poorer place without him, but also a much better place because he was here with us. We will all miss him, but we will all remember how much he meant to us and to so many.

May God bless him and his family.

Leon Busche

(Sorry, I think this message turned out to be a lot like my interview with Tom in 1988! It is hard to stop when there is so much that needs saying!)