John "Tom" Thomas Calkins

John Thomas Calkins was born Feb. 15, 1944 in Houston, Texas. His parents were Harold Kelley Calkins and Virginia Sullivan Calkins. The family included his brother Dick, and they lived at a Phillips Petroleum company camp near League City, Texas. Tom’s arrival was soon followed by the birth of his brother Jim. The family transferred in 1948 to New London, Texas, where his sister Lissa was born. In 1955, they transferred to Smackover, Arkansas. Tom became active in Scouting and was inducted into the Order of the Arrow. He graduated from Smackover High School in 1962.

Tom attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville for a year; then in 1964 he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He served at Yokosuka naval base in Japan, at the naval station in San Diego, California, and on the YRBM16 near Châu Đốc in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam, bordering Cambodia. Discharged in 1969, Tom enrolled at Southern State College in Magnolia, Arkansas, graduated in 1972, and returned to Fayetteville for a master’s degree. He moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, and became a statewide Veteran Service Officer, representing veterans in proceedings with the U.S. Veterans Administration. He met a little girl named Amber, who didn’t have a father in her life and looked to him, and he became her new father and adopted her.

Tom left Arkansas for the University of Texas in Austin and received a master’s degree in library/information science in 1984. At UT, he met Patricia Huntsman, another library degree student from Arkansas, and they married in May 1985. Tom’s career as a corporate librarian began in Austin, first with Lockheed Corp., then with MCC Microelectronics and Computer Consortium. Job opportunities brought Tom to the Houston area, where he worked at Brown & Root, and at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. He transitioned from librarian to records manager, and worked for Tenneco’s gas marketing division. He also taught business degree students as an adjunct faculty member for the University of Houston – Downtown. He joined Access Information Associates in 1997, providing services for clients in Anchorage, Alaska, and on the North Slope. In 1999, he became corporate records manager for Waste Management, where he instituted a company-wide program, and he traveled to WM offices all around the U.S. and Canada. Tom retired from Waste Management in 2012.

Tom enjoyed books, photography, travel, history and music. He provided a home for countless cats, a few dogs and even a couple of guinea pigs.

Tom died on March 29, 2019 in Houston. He was preceded in death by his brothers, Dick Sullivan Calkins and James Henry Calkins. His survivors include: wife, Patricia Huntsman, and sister, Elisabeth Calkins Shepard, both of Houston; daughter, Amber Alsobrook Sturdivant of Highland Village, Texas; sister-in-law, Juanese Calkins of League City; mother-in-law, Freida Huntsman, and brother-in-law, Richard Huntsman, both of Searcy, Arkansas.

A memorial gathering will be held on Sunday, April 7 at 1pm at Pat H. Foley & Co., 1200 W. 34th St., in Houston.