Thomas Springer Evans

Thomas Springer Evans was born in Monessen, Pennsylvania on December 6, 1931, the fifth and last child of William John Evans and Elizabeth Spalter Evans of Fayette City, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Charleroi Senior High School in 1949, Tom received a B.S. degree in Physical Science from California State College in Pennsylvania in 1953. That same year, Tom was inducted in the U.S. Army, serving during the Korean War as an instructor in electronics at the South Eastern Signal School at Camp Gordon, Georgia. Tom completed his military duty in 1955. His brother Bill encouraged him to take a position with Western Electric Company in Chicago.

During his bachelor days in Chicago, Tom ate canned soup, rode around town on the El Train on lonely Saturdays, and attended parties with his roommate, Al Florey. Al’s girlfriend Piper brought her friend Eleanor Noreen O’Connor to one of those parties. Tom and Eleanor were married in 1957. Tom learned to like the mutton stew served by his Irish mother-in-law.

Tom joined Cook Electric Company in 1957, where he was part of a team responsible for developing long range communications for the Atlantic Missile Range. Tom and Eleanor lived in Florida, Georgia, where their son Tom was born in 1959, and Alabama, where their daughter Alicia was born in 1961.

In 1962, Tom accepted a sales position in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with Collins Radio Company, where he worked for the next 28 years. Tom and Eleanor’s daughter Noreen was born in Cedar Rapids in 1964 and son Matt was born in 1966. Tom and Eleanor’s son Tom was successfully treated for a brain tumor at the University of Iowa Medical Center during 1966-67.During Tom’s years with Collins Radio, and later, Rockwell International, the Evans family moved around the country often: Reston, Virginia, 1969-72; San Juan Capistrano, California, 1972-74; Great Falls, Virginia, 1974-1977; Parker, Texas 1977-79; Newport Beach, California, 1979- 80; Parker, Texas 1980-present. Tom made many wonderful friends during his career, and traveled around the world. Tom and Eleanor traveled together often and visited Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

After Tom retired from Rockwell in 1994, he briefly worked at Stewart Warner Electronics in Chicago, Illinois. Later Tom earned a real estate license and enjoyed selling residential real estate in the Collin County, Texas area. Tom, with Eleanor, was active in the Parker, Texas community and loved the people and the area. Tom and Eleanor’s daughter Noreen is married to Aaron Skelly and they have two girls, Abby and Ellie. Son Matt has a son, Mitchell, and a daughter, Mattilyn.

Tom was a devoted reader of books. He followed baseball, basketball, football, golf and hockey, the Pittsburg teams in particular. He played golf, basketball and pool. He once shot a hole-in-one at the Twin Pines Golf Course in Cedar Rapids. He loved steak dinners and good chardonnay. He loved Christmas and especially Christmas trees. He had funny sayings. He liked to go to the movies and to Mavericks game. He liked amusement parks and circuses. He did crossword puzzles and jumbles. He loved to travel. He loved to spend time with his children and his grandchildren. He loved his mother, father, sisters and brothers, niece and nephews. He loved his mother-in-law and all his in-laws. He loved his hometown. He loved his wife, Eleanor. He was a good man, and a great husband and father.

Visitation will be Monday September 9th from 7 until 9pm at the Ted Dickey Funeral Home. The funeral mass will be the following day, Tuesday the 10th at 1:00pm at St. Mark The Evangelist Catholic Church in Plano. A reception will follow the mass in the church reception hall.