[TR] Tom Householder RIP

[Don Hiscock]

For those who haven't heard yet, Tom Householder, great friend to the
Triumph and Doretti marques, died on April 15, 2023 after being in failing
health for over a year.

Here's his obituary from his hometown newspaper.
https://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/obituaries/mnj256898

Tom was an active poster on this list in years past, and especially valued
the FoT community.

Tom described his life around TRs in a profile in the TRA Newsletter from
November 2017.  In that article he described going to sea from
Jacksonville, looking back at his TR3A and imagining a whole parking lot
full of Triumphs.  That image led him a couple of years later to put a
handwritten note in the parts department of Ernie Harter's Triumph
dealership in Lancaster Ohio asking if anyone wanted to start a car club.
>From those seeds the Triumph Register of America grew.

(And, BTW, the front apron from that TR3A , shown here in Florida
with Tom's dog Skipper, is on my TR3B now:
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-xJnH7xR/0/b1f88787/O/i-xJnH7xR.jpg)

I met Tom 44 years ago when we worked at the same research institute, and
the TR3B I have today was through his matchmaking.  His family had a big
auction of his TR and Doretti cars, parts, and ephemera in February so some
of the rare bits he'd accumulated will remain in the hobby for years to
come.

My last visit with my friend was a month or so ago and he stated he was
comfortable and at peace.  He missed his wife and best friend Susie, who
predeceased him by about two years.  Tom, those of you who knew him will
understand, lived his own life by his own and often ornery rules, but he
was always there to help friends and always had a (usually off-color) joke
to tell.  He thought sometimes he should have been born a hundred years or
more earlier when his simple and independent self-reliance would have been
more common and maybe more helpful in life -- he was probably not wrong
there!

Here are Tom and Susie out to dinner in 2016:
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-BGbHCqN/0/d9e06ac7/XL/i-BGbHCqN-XL.jpg

Rest in peace, Tom.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/triumphs/attachments/20230425/4028431d/attachment.htm>