Passed away January 28, 2021 after a long illness. Tom worked as a hospital pathologist at St. Lukes Hospital and Presbyterian St. Luke’s for many years. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Lowell DeFeo; his children, Mark (Michelle) DeFeo and Kathryn DeFeo; and his grandchildren, Emily and Olivia DeFeo. Tom was preceded in death by his parents, Theodore and Mary, and his brother, Theodore Jr.
Mass of Christian Burial will be privately held at St. Louis Catholic Parish with burial at Olinger Chapel Hill Cemetery.
Memorial contributions in Tom’s name can be made to St. Louis Catholic Church or Julia Temple Health Care.
Please leave a message of condolence for the family at OlingerChapelHill.com
The Eulogy from Tom's Service to be shared with those unable to attend:
I’m Mark DeFeo, Tom’s son. On behalf of our family, I want to thank you for being here to help us remember and honor my Dad today. While we are saddened by his passing, we are comforted knowing that he lived a full life and that he is now in a better place surrounded by the love of God, and other family members who have previously passed. We miss him but we have a strong faith and feel a sense of joy knowing that he is now free from his pain and can now continue his journey to everlasting life.
I just wanted to share a few thoughts and memories about my Dad. My family and I have been talking about the kind of man he was and the qualities and characteristics that he possessed which defined him and helped shape us. He was blessed with many gifts and we feel fortunate to have been the recipients of those gifts.
As my family and I have reflected on my Dad's life, one theme that consistently comes through is that he was a life-long learner. The obvious example of this is his career choice of becoming a doctor. But his thirst for knowledge and education carried on throughout his life. For example,he was a wonderful photographer. He built a dark room in our house on Cherrywood Circle and developed his own film. When we went on trips, he always had a camera hanging over his shoulder. And now,the walls of our house are filled with his beautiful framed photographs. He also had a love for music... specifically Opera music which filled our house for many years during my childhood. I wasn’t a huge fan of that music and in my teen years would frequently need to turn up the volume on my rock music to drown out the opera. Of course, he learned all about the composers, the singers and went to many opera performances with my Mom... he even dragged my sister and I along to some of those. Being of Italian heritage, he developed an affinity for all things Italian. The culture, the language, the music (Opera), the country and the food.... he immersed himself in all of it... taking Italian language classes, taking trips to Italy, learning to cook some Italian recipes... Like risotto and panetoni. But, perhaps the best example of his thirst for knowledge is related to his faith. He was raised Catholic and has always had a spiritual side but it wasn’t until later in his life that he truly embraced his faith. Again, once he became interested, he had to learn everything he could about Catholicism... he read a lot and learned a lot and developed a deep faith. He didn’t always talk about it, but it was there. The bottom line is that when he became interested in something, he went “all in” to learn and experience as much as he could about the subject.
Probably the quality that my Dad possessed that we all admired the most was how he treated people. Put quite simply, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who was as kind and generous as my Dad. Anyone who met him, liked him. When he interacted with strangers, he treated them like they were the most important people in the world. He wasn’t like this sometimes... he was like this ALL of the time. Always kind. He was kind, he was smart, he was humble, he had a good sense of humor and he loved his family. He was a man of few words, but what he did say always meant something and carried weight.
There are many memories and stories we have of my Dad and and I'd like to highlight some of our favorites:
- Learning to ride bike on Cherrywood Circle
- Going to Nuggets and Rockies games (Of course, the Rockies were a hockey team back then)
- Sitting on Dad's lap while he let me steer his truck
- Camping with our family & friends all over Colorado
- Riding in the camper of our ford pickup truck with my sister while Dad drove us camping
- Catching my first fish and yelling for Dad to help as I didn't know what to do
- Taking road trips to KC to visit my grandparents and other relatives
- Being introduced to music he liked... like the Neil Diamond, John Denver, the Beatles, Elton John, classical music, new age music and, of course, Opera
- Going to the Denver Zoo and seeing the Snow Leopards
- Skiing with the family on ski trips
- Traveling to Italy with the family
- Watching Dad chop wood at their cabin near Grand Lake
- Stargazing with Dad
- Cross country skiing and snowshoeing at the cabin
- Playing golf in Palm Springs
- Watching spring training baseball in Arizona
- Taking long walks with our Dad and our dogs along the highline canal AND
- Stargazing with Dad
We are so grateful that you are here to celebrate my Dad's life with us. Your love and friendship meant a lot to him and continues to mean a lot to us.
Thank you again for coming
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