Thomas Ward

Thomas N. Ward Jr., 86, of 34 Tecumseh Drive, Chillicothe, died Friday, April 9, 2010, at Adena Regional Medical Center after a yearlong battle with Wegener's granulomatosis, a form of blood vessel disease that damages the kidneys and other organs. A native of Pennsylvania, Tom had lived in Chillicothe since 1954, and retired in 1988 as vice president, secretary and treasurer of the Ohio Valley Electric Corp. But to the family he cherished and his many friends, Tom will be remembered most as a loving and devoted husband and father, an adoring and inspiring grandfather, a mentor and a helpful friend and neighbor. He was an avid tennis player well into his eighties, and a skilled self-taught woodworker. The furniture he built and the clocks he made are cherished reminders of a life well lived to the many family members and friends whose homes they grace. Tom was born July 16, 1923, in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, at the home of his parents, Mary and Thomas Nelson Ward Sr. Tom's father went to work for the Cumberland Valley Railroad at age 11 after his own father had been killed while working for the railroad. Tom described his mother as a good housekeeper and excellent cook, who had a firm grip on the family purse strings. By the time Tom started elementary school, the Great Depression had begun, and Tom mowed lawns, ran errands for neighbors and did other odd jobs for spending money. The lessons about hard work, thrift -- and generosity -- that Tom took from his upbringing during the Depression would serve him well throughout his life. Tom's parents had only attended grade school and were determined that their children get more education than they had, so in 1941, he enrolled in the University of Illinois, where he would live with his half-brother, William Gilbert, who had already earned a Ph. D. and was teaching there. Tom spent the summer before his first semester working to raise money for college. He held three jobs: laying rails on the railroad in the morning; mowing grass and maintaining the lawns at a local estate in the afternoon; and ushering at a local movie theater at night. He was able to save $800 that summer, which was enough for his first two semesters. During that first year of college, the United States entered World War II. Halfway through his second year, Tom enlisted in the Army and was called to duty in March 1943. He was sent to Camp Robinson in Arkansas for basic training as a medic before being shipped to New Jersey to study engineering at Rutgers University. As the invasion of Normandy approached, the Army sent the men from such specialized programs to infantry training. Tom was trained as a machine gunner and assigned to the 415th Infantry Regiment of the 104th Infantry Division, known as the Timberwolves. He was shipped to Europe in August 1944, just two months after the Normandy invasion. He saw duty in France, Holland and Belgium before entering Germany with the First Army Group. He spent two weeks in abandoned German pillboxes on the Siegfried Line before setting out for Cologne. Along the way his unit entered a forest where the Germans rained artillery shells down on the U.S. forces. After capturing Cologne, Tom's unit was one of the last to make it across the Remagen Bridge, which had been captured earlier by the Allies, before it collapsed into the Rhine River. His unit met up with the Russian Army at the Elbe River, and for Tom the war in Europe was over. He was scheduled to be shipped to the Pacific Theater when the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Japan. After the war, Tom returned to the University of Illinois, where he graduated in 1947 with a bachelor's degree with an accounting major. In 1947, Tom went to work for the accounting firm of Arthur Andersen in New York City. The following year, he married the former Jean Renfrew Oyler of Fayetteville, Pa., whom he had known from high school. He obtained his certificate as a certified public accountant in 1952. By 1954, Tom and Jean had their first child and decided to leave New York City for a place more hospitable to raising a family. He accepted a job with OVEC, which supplied power to the Atomic Energy Commission's gaseous diffusion plant, and moved the family to Chillicothe. He was deeply devoted to the company and to his co-workers. Tom and Jean eventually built a house at 34 Tecumseh Drive, where they lived until Tom's death. Tom retired from OVEC in 1988. Tom is survived by his wife of 62 years, Jean R. Ward; two daughters and their husbands, Marilyn and Michael Knilans of Columbus, and Barbara and Jerry Wakefield of Olympia, Washington; one son and his wife, Thomas G. and Melissa Ward of Portland, Ore.; and seven grandchildren: Michael and Kathleen Knilans of Columbus; Patrick Ward of Ann Arbor, Mich., Christopher Ward of Corvallis, Ore.; Scott Ward of Eugene, Ore.; Jonathan Thomas Wakefield, of Vancouver, British Columbia; and Emily Wakefield of Olympia, Washington. A memorial service will be held at 10:00am Wednesday at the Calvary Lutheran Church, 74 W. Main Street. Arrangements are under the direction of Haller Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Calvary Lutheran Church Building Fund, 74 W. Main St., Chillicothe, 45601.