Many of my earliest memories from childhood involve Uncle Thom. When I was a baby in the early 1970s, Thom lived with my parents and me in Oklahoma City, and I have some footage of him goofing around from those days that I will try to splice and post here for everyone to enjoy. I also remember visiting him, my Aunt Ginny and later Aunt Cathey, cousins Shannon and Hollie, and their families out in the country in southern Oklahoma. Thom always seemed to prefer country living to that of the hustle and bustle of the city.
Throughout his life, Thom became a regular jack of all trades in business. I remember that in addition to leading construction projects with Joe much later in life, many years before that, in the early 1980s when Hollie was a baby, he owned his own business as a truck driver in Ardmore, OK and drove his own semi for a time.
As Mom mentioned, he also tried his hand at raising horses and ostriches, and in the late 1980s, lived at Lake Viking in northern Missouri as he worked at selling lots. While there, when I was twelve, Thom took me out on the country dirt roads around the lake to teach me how to drive his van, and when it was time to come home, I wanted to Thom to drive because the quickest way back to the house was via the highway. Thom refused to drive and said that I needed to learn sometime, so I was forced to drive on the highway at a screaming 45 miles an hour. As I had never driven faster than about 25 miles an hour, I thought we were flying, but all Thom would say was that I was doing a great job, and of course we arrived back at the house safe and sound.
Later on, Thom also sold cars with his cousins and I remember one of the main selling line that summer on any car he sold was that it blew "ice cold air!" That always made me chuckle because even if the car had a crummy motor or was completely rusted out, you at least knew that you'd stay cool in it for the summer.
When Thom was still working as a general contractor in the mid-2000s, he and Joe came to Colorado and stayed at my house in Denver for about a month as they installed new ceramic tile in the master bathroom, guest bathroom, and kitchen. They also installed a new Jacuzzi tub in the master bath and did a great job in every room. During that time, I witnessed the friendship that Thom and Joe had - while they would always make fun of each other and 'talk smack' at each other from time to time, it was evident that they were very good friends and that their mutual respect and brotherly love ran deep.
Finally, when my father, Tim Ballard, was very sick from cancer and in the nursing home in Dallas, Thom made the long trip from central Missouri in January 2009 to visit him. The two had been friends since childhood and it was very moving to see him there, trying to comfort my father in his last 6 months of life. It meant so much to my father and me that Thom came - Dad was one of the few people who continued to call him "Tommy" throughout his life as a testament to more than 50 years of friendship that they'd shared. I last saw Thom at Dad's funeral in June 2009, where again he had made the long trip to say goodbye to his old friend and to help comfort us.
These are the fond memories I've been reflecting on since hearing of Uncle Thom's passing and also have been praying that his journey "Home" is a peaceful one.
