Thomas Beard

April 24, 1948 — June 17, 2024

Thomas (Tom) W. Beard, 76, of Chillicothe passed away on June 17, 2024 at Grant Hospital following a brief illness. Tom was born on April 24, 1948 in Zanesville, Ohio, the son of Charles and Eloise Beard.

Tom lived a full and wonderful life, blessed with many opportunities.

His first and best opportunity was being born to parents who filled their home with love and a houseful of brothers and sisters. The bond Tom formed with his brothers continued throughout their adult lives with family get togethers including singing gospel music, playing their guitars, and playing euchre. As the siblings passed, Tom spent a lot of time with his brother Larry fishing, hunting, talking about their gardens, and along with Lesli and Judy had many euchre tournaments and recently took a memorable road trip together.

Tom attended Westfall High School and is a member of the Class of 1966. During this time Tom had the opportunity to make life-long friends, and play basketball with his best friend Neil Coleman, referred to affectionately by Tom as "Vern." Some of the best and most memorable times of Tom's life were spent with Neil, his basketball teammates, and Coach Wilson. Tom was recognized as all SVC, best Defensive Player and Passer, and was inducted into the Westfall Hall of Fame. The Class of '66 still meets regularly; Tom really enjoyed getting together with his classmates and reminiscing about the old times.

After high school Tom was excited to be offered the opportunity to attend and play basketball Campbellsville College in Campbellsville, KY. After a brief time in Campbellsville, Tom returned home, joined the Air Force and was trained as a radio operator.

Tom's career path led him in a few different directions, and in 1989 he found his home at Citizen's National Bank. Tom started as their Marketing and Compliance Manager and eventually served as President and CEO until his retirement in 2014. Tom loved his CNB family, referred to them as "the best people," and was forever grateful for the friendship and many laughs they shared. The family has heard from community members about the grace Tom showed them when providing their banking needs; while former employees have commented "Tom was the best boss." Tom never lost sight of the opportunity provided by Jerry Whited and CNB Board Chair, John Kochensparger, saying, "they gave a poor, dumb kid an opportunity and look how it turned out."

Tom loved sports and to talk and tell stories- the opportunity to work with his buddy, Mike Smith and team, provided him a time to tell stories during 42 years of sports broadcasting with WKKJ and Litter Media. Mike describes it best by saying, "his style of being able to inject humor in his color commentary made Tom a favorite for generations of listeners. It is hard to put into words how much joy Tom and I had doing the games over the years. Tom was very sharp and his home-spun humor in the broadcast might have been some of the most memorable things he did that listeners always said they loved." Tom was honored with the Media Service Award by the Southeast District Athletic Board in 2020, an honor that was well deserved and treasured by Tom. See the full story and podcasts of recent broadcasts on Litter Media's Facebook page.

After retirement, Tom had the opportunity to live a full life travelling, playing thousands of games of Scrabble, Yahtzee, Wordle, and playing golf with the best group of guys. He enjoyed watching the Cincinnati Reds and anything Ohio State. If you knew Tom, you knew his favorite thing to watch was anything Andy Griffith; he referred to it as a simple and best life, and that we need more Andy Griffith in the world today.

Since he retired, Tom had the opportunity to enjoy being with his faithful companion and silver lab, Murphy. Conversations with Tom always included an update on his "Murph." Murphy never left his side, and sadly during the past few days, has been bringing Tom's shoes to Lesli, trying to figure out why his "dad" isn't home.

Tom is survived by his life partner, Lesli Parker and her son Kent (Emma) Parker, his brother Larry (Judy) Beard, granddaughters Kaitlyn and Olivia Beard, great grandson, Finn, former spouse Ginger Beard, sisters-in-law Connie and Janice Beard, Kathleen Lloyd, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Tom was preceded in death by his parents, his son, Michael Beard, and siblings Lois (Jack) Sarina, Charles (Janet) Beard, James Beard, Linda (Chuck) Fontaine, and Philip Beard.

Services, including an Air Force Color Guard presentation, will be held at 6:30 pm on Monday, June 24 at Open Door Church, 3130 South Bridge Street, Chillicothe, where friends and family may visit prior to the service from 1:00-6:00 pm. In recognition of Tom's love of local sports teams and its athletes, the family invites visitors to wear a shirt with their favorite team's logo.

The family would like to thank Pastor Mark Pfeifer and the members of Open Door Church for permitting us to use their church so visitors may be inside with us during the extreme heat wave.

Additionally, the family would like to thank everyone for reaching out to us with offers of assistance. The love you have shown means so much during this very difficult time. To honor your request to help and Tom's desire to assist area athletes in need, we respectfully request in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made to:

The Chillicothe-Ross Community Foundation

Memo: Tom Beard Fund for Students

45 East Main Street

Chillicothe, OH 45601

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