Thomas Oliver Flanagan born October 28th, 1937 in Belfast, Northern Ireland to Thomas & Elizabeth Flanagan. He married the love of his life, Charlotte Josephine Flanagan on December 31st, 1960 and they in turn welcomed Paul (1965), Martin (1974) and Catherine (1976) into the family.
Thomas started his career in hospitality as a bell boy in the Midland Hotel Belfast. After spending many years in the Merchant navy cruising the Atlantic on likes of the Queen Mary, he pursued a career in hotel management in both Northern and Southern Ireland.
He immigrated to Canada in 1994 and thoroughly enjoyed working at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 385 - Aurora, of which he was also an active member.
Sadly, Alzheimers entered his life in 2005 and slowly progressed to steal his memories day by day. In May 2014 he was diagnosed with aggressive, inoperable lung cancer and despite Josephine staying by his side every step of the way, these horrible diseases eventually took their toll, culminating in dad spending his final days in the loving care of the nurses and staff at Hill house Hospice, for which the family is extremely grateful for their kindness.
He is survived by his wife, his children as well as his Grandchildren Andrew (18), and Iona (6), and we thank him for being the gentle, loving, caring, funny father & husband that he was, and we while we miss him more than words can say, we find some comfort in the following few words of an anonymous poet:
If I should go tomorrow
It would never be goodbye,
For I have left my heart with you,
So don't you ever cry.
The love that's deep within me,
Shall reach you from the stars,
You'll feel it from the heavens,
And it will heal the scars.
We love and miss you Tommy! x
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