Remembering a friend

Tom and Carol Coffman with Tristan 6 days post Norwood Procedure

This past Wednesday morning the gates of heaven flew open and our friend and brother in Christ, Tom was taken Home. After three years of battling cancer, God in his infinite wisdom and control decided that Tom's suffering needed to end. Through the suffering and death of God's own son, Jesus, Tom was called "Righteous" and was welcomed to the place that all the saints before us have gone...where the Angels sing, "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!". 

My first memory of Tom is his voice. Call Day informed us we were heading to Grace Lutheran Church in Port St. Lucie, FL. We had already received several phone calls from various members and leaders of the congregation and we were busy planning our move from St. Louis to Florida. Gene was at Concordia Publishing House (CPH) working his part time job for LWML in their shipping/stocking department. The phone rang with the caller ID showing it was a Florida area code. It was Tom. He asked to speak to Gene, which I promptly answered that he was not there. Tom introduced himself as a member and Elder of Grace. The conversation lasted all of around 4 minutes and ended with me giving him Gene's cell phone number. I quickly got off the phone and called Gene to forewarn him that a phone call would be coming from an elder at Grace. I declared to Gene, "I just got off the phone with the nicest person! Extremely friendly and nice!". Friendly and nice....such an understatement. 


Above is a picture of Tom and his wife, Carol visiting Tristan. They made the long 2 hour trip down to meet Tristan 6 days after his 1st surgery. Some day Tristan will look through his photo album from that time period. Upon seeing this picture he will ask me who the man in the picture is......and I am going to tell Tristan that Tom was a man who loved Jesus, loved his wife and son, and was a great friend to us. A man with great character and integrity. A man who could sing a song at the end of a church service and have the members leave crying because how beautifully it was sung. A man who would come up to church and quietly clean or fix something without fanfare or praise. A man, who despite fighting and suffering from cancer found time to pray for you. And even though you will have no memory of Tom, I am thankful he was able to meet you.


There are many other memories I have of Tom, but if I named them all this blog would be a hundred pages long. The most important thing to take away is that the memories are fond.  


It was my honor and privilege to have known Tom.  For having known him, I am a better person. He will be greatly missed by this family.


Yes, we will all see Tom again..... And what a glorious day that will be. 


Amen.