Obituary of Thomas Pfost

Thomas Dewey Pfost was the fourth child, third son, of six sons, born to Jean Wesley Pfost and Bonnie Louise (Nesbit) Pfost. Tom’s parents and younger brother, Randy Jean, preceded him in death. A curious story about how Tom got his name… The “Thomas E. Dewey” was the 47th Governor of the State of New York and ran for President in 1944 and 1948. He was instrumental in the election of Dwight D. Eisenhower, as President in 1952. Apparently Jean was a staunch supporter and admirer of Thomas E. Dewey and chose this name for his third son. As a child, Tom spent his youngest years on the family farm south west of Hugo. He was never bored as he had one older sister, Susan, two older brothers, Norman and Jerry, and three younger brothers, Jack, Randy and Rick. Life on the farm in those years for little Tommy, was rarely easy. There were lots of chores and few rewards. In this family of nine, there were a lot of mouths to feed and children to clothe, with very limited resources. A devastating fire in 1959 destroyed nearly all the farm assets. Life changed as Tommy knew it, as his Dad had to find new ways to support his family and at the same time the children were given even more responsibilities around the farm and had to make do with less. Toys were always” used” and far and few between. The children would take what they could get and somehow create a “toy “of sorts. The family notes that in most pictures of Tommy in those days, he is clinging to a headless doll. But young “Tommy” was a precocious little guy, as were his brothers. As they say, boys will be boys, and they were definitely boys! A lot a scraping went on among the group, usually ending in a good spanking for all. (They were allowed in those days!) Bonnie could never determine who the main culprits were, so she just lined up the group and went at it. Tom and Jack became buddies early on. One day Tommy was demonstrating to Jackie how to “properly” pound a nail, and broke Jackie’s finger. Jackie was around four years old! Jean had no hesitation about allowing his children to do very dangerous things, it is a small wonder they survived! Hunting with loaded rifles, driving heavy equipment and sledding behind a large tractor and off the top of the barn roof, are a small sampling of those events. His hope was that his children would become strong and tough. And that they did! This scene as a whole was very difficult for Bonnie and she struggled at times. Life was difficult with so many children and very little material wealth. The spankings probably somehow kept her sanity in check. All of these seven children were only one year apart in age. It might go without saying, his sister suffered a bit also! Sadly, little Randy passed away in 1960 due to encephalitis. Randy was only five years old. Tragically in 1961, Tom’s father, Jean was killed. Tom was only nine years old. He would grow up never to have another real “Father” figure in his life. Bonnie was only nineteen when they were married, Jean was eleven years older. Jean was 43 years old when he was killed leaving 32 year old Bonnie with six children. Life at that point, became even tougher. Bonnie moved her little brood into Hugo and took up a night shift as a waitress to make ends meet. Over the years jobs for Bonnie were hard to find, as she did not even possess a high school education. Moving became regular, at least once a year. The children attended every school in Lincoln County, with the exception of only a couple. But Bonnie persevered and in the end all of her children would graduate from high school and all went on to college. Norman, her special needs son, would be the only exception. Tommy, one tough little boy, grew up savvy and smart. He went to high school in Karval and played and excelled in all the sports. He was popular with the girls and everyone thought he and brother Jerry were twins. They would use this to their advantage at times and pull a few tricks, some cute and maybe some not so cute! Tom had a high school sweetheart that he would eventually marry. His toughness contributed to his successes in life. He never slowed or stopped; he was always busy and would not accept failure as an option. Tom went on to Otero Junior College and obtained a pilot’s license while there. It was always a passion of his to be a pilot. He earned an associate’s degree at Otero and later attended college in Sterling. Tom became a fireman for the City of Colorado Springs and continued that for 20 years, while also being a real estate broker. After retiring from the fire department he began his own real estate brokerage and developed Falcon Heights, a residential subdivision in Falcon. He eventually became a part time employee for Sky West Airlines in Colorado Springs as he was at the time of his death. Tom and his brother Jack remained close over the years and were partners in business as well as best buddies. That relationship lasted until his death. They had many successes and a wonderful friendship thru the years. Jack will miss that friendship and all the time they spent together immensely. His other “half” is gone… Being a parent and grandparent were Tom’s greatest joys. He loved his kids with a passion. He considered his kids his finest accomplishment. He pushed them to be the best that they could be and did not want them to settle for less. Jennifer attended the Air Force Academy and Chelsey is in her senior year at UNC. Both of them are bright and beautiful. He had dreams for them all to be in business together one day. He was a very proud “Dad”. Traveling eventually became Tom’s joy in life. His travel benefits with the airlines (thus the job with the airlines) provided him to see many places around the world that might not have seen otherwise. His favorite place was Hawaii and loved to talk about his fascination of Dubai. He was always looking forward to a vacation of some sort, if only for a day or two. Traveling with his kids and grandkids gave him such joy. We are thoroughly convinced he was out to be the best granddad ever. Tom was a very tough act to follow. He could just not do enough for those little ones who all called him “Papa”, with much love and admiration. We would be doing Tom a large disservice if we did not mention his passion for “coupons”. His entire life was run on coupon and discount purchases! Anyone in the family can attest to that. We’re sure he had things he had no worldly use for, but a “coupon” most likely brought them together! His final gift to his sister, in recent weeks, was a large coupon book! Perhaps this was his secret to financial success! Another one of Tom’s loves was family. He loved visiting and being around family. It was Tom who pushed Susan every year to get together a family picnic or gathering. His contribution to these events was always very generous, but it was because of his love for the togetherness with his family. Just this past holiday season he was after Susan again to have a family gathering. So after his nudging she held a New Year’s gathering that he enjoyed thoroughly. He as proud “Papa” brought two of his grandbabies. We will look back on that day with special memories, as that was his final “Family” gathering. Tom probably talked to his daughters by phone no less than 8 -10 times each, per day. He was determined to keep them all close. If you were with him, it was very hard to carry on a conversation with all the phone calls going on! He and Lann were also close; Lann became the son Tom never had. He had a great relationship with Dani and his adopted “grandkids”. Tom leaves behind a long legacy of accomplishments, friendships and dedication to family. Those of us who loved him know that he was special and will remembered that way always. Tom, we will miss you terribly and we are all grateful to have had you in our lives, moving on without you will not be easy, but we promise to do it with strength, as we know that is what you would want. We will all remember the wonderful and fun times with you. Your wonderful sense of humor will continue to be with us always and will put smiles on our faces as we begin the tough task of moving forward. We promise to be there for Jennifer and Chelsey and try to ease their pain along the way. We promise also to be a family to stay close. Tom you leave a large hole in our hearts, God Bless You!