Tomas F. Colorado

Tomas Colorado, 73, passed away on August 31, 2016 in Cypress, TX from complications related to pulmonary fibrosis. Tomas lived a life based on integrity, responsibility, hard work, the importance of family and believing in oneself. Tomas was born on June 4, 1943 in Brownsville, TX to parents Tomas and Marta (Delgado) Colorado. Spanish was his first language and he would tell stories of how kids would get into trouble at elementary school for not speaking English. After graduating high school, he joined the Air Force, which took him to other states such as Washington, South Carolina, Mississippi and New Mexico and overseas to Panama and southeast Asia. During that time, he married Blanche Roberts in 1963, with whom he had 3 children. He worked at Boeing after leaving the military but soon returned to Texas, to the Houston area in 1968.

Tomas was an industrious and hardworking man, working mostly in the oil and gas manufacturing industry. He started his career working in machine shops, then worked his way into an office position focused on analytics, pricing industrial equipment and domestic and international sales. Among the companies he worked for were Cameron Iron Works, National Oilwell, Kvaerner Oil and most recently, GE Oil and Gas. He often worked second jobs to support his family, from selling knives door to door, working retail in the evenings and for a time, running his own office cleaning business. No job was beneath him and regardless of whether it required accurately calculating the cost of an offshore oil rig or helping a customer pick out the right pair of shoes, he believed in putting in all his effort to get the job done right. He succeeded at taking on big challenges. He was incredibly resourceful and believed in his ability to figure out new things. For example, he personally built a significant addition onto his first house. This effort included researching city codes and requirements (this was before the internet, requiring trips to city hall), drawing up architectural plans, getting city approval, and ultimately doing the manual labor. He once completely rebuilt the engine to one his cars. Afterwards it didn’t run quite as fast as it used to do. But run it did. He decided to get his bachelor’s degree while in his 40s and working full time. He earned his BBA in finance from the University of Houston when he was 51 years old.

He was married to his first wife for thirty years. He had a second opportunity at happiness when he met his second wife, Evelina Stenroos (Salas.) She was an avid runner, an activity he had recently taken up that became a passion they shared together. They completed 5 marathons together before knee problems caused him to hang up his running shoes. Finally, Tomas was not all work and no play. He had an exceptional sense of humor and fun. He liked to make jokes and play pranks on his family and friends. He loved to dance and on many Friday nights, he and Evelina would go out dancing. He enjoyed going to the rodeo each year and was an avid sports fan, regularly rooting for the Oilers, then the Texans and the Astros.

Tomas was preceded in death by his brother Ramone Colorado and his sisters Amelia Garcia, Lolita Cantu and Mary Zarate. He is survived by his wife Evelina, his brothers, Jesus Colorado, Juan Colorado and Carlos P. Colorado as well as three children, Lucinda Colorado Daneshmand, Tamara Colorado, Tomas Colorado Jr and a stepson, Robert Stenroos. He has seven grandchildren, Anthony Colorado, Jonathan Cartmill, Bianca Daneshmand, Kiana Daneshmand, Madison Colorado, Taylor Colorado and Rainen Stenroos, and two great grandchildren, Trinity Colorado and Bruce Colorado. Also surviving him are his brother-in-law Genaro Garcia and sisters-in-law Palmira Colorado, Rosie Colorado and Sylvia Colorado.

Visitation is at Brookside Funeral Home at 9149 Highway 6 North is on September 5 from 5-8:00 with a vigil at 7:00. A service will be held at Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church at noon on September 6 at 11507 Huffmeister Rd with a gravesite burial at Houston National Cemetery, 10410 Veterans Memorial Drive thereafter. Everyone is welcome to attend a reception back at Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church immediately after the burial.