William Frederick Thompson "Tom" Lenfestey

William Frederick Thompson Lenfestey died February 13, 2022 in Tampa. Born June 24, 1925 in Tampa, Tom, by age 12, was playing the Sunday School piano and singing in the choir at Hyde Park Presbyterian, then catching the streetcar downtown for his gig as paid soloist at St. Andrews Episcopal Church.

He attended Gorrie, Wilson, Plant High School (‘43) and Tulane - the latter as an undergraduate in the Navy V-12 program and as a graduate student in psychology. Like thousands of others being churned out as officers, he bunked in the gym with 1400 other sailors and graduated in 32 months…right as WWII ended. Even during that truncated college career, he managed to join Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and spend most weekends bartending for an old family friend’s endless cocktail parties in the Garden District, when he wasn’t slogging through Louisiana bayous doing mosquito research on a Standard Oil company grant. Tom was particularly fond of the festive striped legs of the aedes aegypti.

Next stop was the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music to study opera, singing small parts with the Metropolitan during their summer season then at the Cincinnati Zoo. Paid in tickets, this helped him woo his future adored wife Hatty Biery, whom he met on the church steps in Terrace Park, OH and called "the brightest spot in a wonderful life". He was recalled by the Navy for the Korean "police action" and served on ships in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean but especially on the USS Gherardi, DMS30 as senior watch officer underway, crypto officer and only code-breaker on board…one of the favorite times of his life, as it turned out.

Back in Tampa to run the family business, Tom became president of Lenfestey Supply Company, served on the Board of the Tampa Philharmonic Symphony when Alfredo Antonini was brought to Tampa as the musical director, sang for well over a hundred weddings and funerals and in various operas and oratorios semi-professionally. In fact, he was ready at a moment’s notice to jump in when needed, including one evening at the Hofbräuhaus in Munich, when he noticed a neighboring table of drinkers singing the parts of Faust in German were missing Valentin. He offered to join in, but only knew the part in French. The entire linguistically agile table handily switched to French, thrilled to welcome this wandering troubadour from the US.

He contributed numerous boating pieces for outdoor magazines (e.g.Yachting) and was author of the definitive maritime usage Dictionary of Nautical Terms (Facts On File Press), The Sailor's Illustrated Dictionary (Lyons Press), and the best selling Gunkholer's Cruising Guide to the West Coast of Florida (Great Outdoors), which sold out every one of 16 printings through 11 editions. He and his First Mate sailed about a million miles in the Festina Lente and Silver Belle, checking out old bridges and new sandbars for the next edition, with Hatty as co-helmsman and in charge of bird illustrations and recipes.

An active member of the Hyde Park Presbyterian Church all his life, Tom served as elder for 65 years, superintendent of the Sunday School for 17 years, member of the choir for over 60 years. He played the piano for Sunday School most of his life, but his star turn was for Miss Pam’s five year olds for an entire generation of Millennials. Famous not only for his bright (not to say garish) trousers and ties, and seersucker suits in summer, he pounded out favorites like “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” as the class bellowed/sang the words and stomped around the class with Mr. Tom shouting, “March forth, children!” These veterans are convinced that the date of the funeral was chosen in honor of this famous command.

A 60+ year member of the Tampa Rotary Club, former member of the Merrymakers, and member of the Tampa Yacht Club for over 75 years (having joined for $1 at age 16, while still at Plant, to fill the TYCC ranks of young men needed for dances during the war years), he and a frequently-reluctant-but-always-game Hatty swam pre-dawn laps seven days a week for more than sixty years, many before the pool was heated.

Once retired, he volunteered as one of the loudest but most enthusiastic interpreters for the weekly Tampa Port Authority cruises, adding historical extras that were factual but totally off script.

Predeceased by his beloved Hatty, Tom leaves behind daughter Harriet Lenfestey Plyler (Philip), sons William F. T. "Tom" Lenfestey, Jr. (Dee) and Hudson Sydney Lenfestey (Layne); grandchildren Jay Plyler (Rayane), Thompson Plyler and Pippin Lenfestey; great-grandchildren Madeleine, Dwight and Margaux Plyler.

The funeral will be held at the Hyde Park Presbyterian Church, Friday, March 4 at 3:00pm.