James Thomas Bass Jr.

James Thomas Bass, Jr. of Americus, Georgia, known as “Tommy” and “T Bass” by family and friends. passed away Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at a Rome, Georgia, hospital after a long struggle with injuries sustained at his home.

Tommy was born in Americus, GA on July 8, 1944, the son of the late James Thomas Bass, Sr. and the late Rosalie Purvis Bass. He lived most of his life in Americus, GA where he graduated from High School and later attended college at Georgia Southwestern College where he received his bachelor’s degree. He also served his country in the United States Marine Corp where he fought in the Vietnam War and was wounded three different times, receiving three Purple Hearts.

He is survived by his brother, Lonny “Bob” Bass and his sister, Nancy Bass Dingler; his nieces and nephews: Jaime Bass Marucha, Hugh Bass, Jean Holland, John Holland, Robert Holland, Dr. Nik Philmon, Marshall Philmon and Loni Philmon Brown. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sister, Ruth “Beth” Holland and her husband, Jean Holland; his sisters-in-laws, Ann Bass and Mitzi Dingler.

In keeping with Tommy wishes, he will be cremated, and a private family gathering will be held at a later date.

Daniel’s Funeral Home and Cremation Services is honored to serve Tommy’s family.

In the words of his close friend Dana Blankenhorn:

Tommy was many things in his life – soldier, hippie, businessman, handyman, webmaster, and my spiritual advisor. He helped run the Magnolia Warehouse, a health foods wholesaler, in the 1970s, and served on the board of Sevenanda, the city’s health food co-op. He hung out with Capricorn Records in Macon, home of the Allman Brothers, but that was before I knew him.

When I met T. Bass 40 years ago, he was living in a van with an enormous dog named Thali, who would jump into the back of the van on command, and sleep on a shelf halfway up. When his past caught up with him, he and Thali would drive into the woods, as far away as Tennessee, where he would commune with nature until he felt better.

Tommy painted my house in the 1980s. He installed my home network and wrote books with me in the 1990s, he acted as my webmaster in the 2000s, and he told me his story in the 2010s. Tommy also signed his name with a yin-yang symbol and had t-shirts made with it, reading “T Bass: Handyperson”.

If there was a kinder or gentler man, I never met him. He was my teacher as well as my friend. As he faded away at a nursing facility in Rome, Georgia, overseen by the VA, his older brother Lonny, beloved sister Nancy, and a friend named Pete from the co-op days, I visited irregularly, putting a full day of Atlanta traffic into each hour spent watching him consume any food he was given, catching up on the TV he’d missed over his long, eventful life.

Good Bye Old Friend