Obituary: Dwyer, Thomas Z. Sr.
Age 92
He was a 50 year resident of Phoenix who moved with his wife to Spokane in 2006 where his youngest daughter and her husband had moved the year before.
Born the third of eight children to William P. Dwyer and Erma L. Zeigler in Taylorville, IL, he grew up in the Detroit area.
Tom was a gregarious Irishman who loved God, his family, country and life.
As a member of the Greatest Generation, he served in the U.S. Army during World War II in the South Pacific Theater, primarily the Philippines and New Guinea.
After his discharge in 1946, he married Mary Alice Parker; they would have celebrated their 68th anniversary in September.
Thanks to the GI Bill, he attended Michigan State, planning a career in hotel management.
However, that plan was shelved when the first of six children was born a couple years later.
With the first four kids, he and Mom packed up everything and took a transfer with General Foods (now Kraft) to Phoenix in 1956 to escape the nasty Michigan winters.
Two more kids soon came along and he spent the next 27 years selling Maxwell House coffee until retiring in 1983.
He and Mom traveled all over the U.S. and a bit of Europe before their health made it too difficult.
He loved telling a good joke or story and was the life of the party, especially if he was the bartender.
He will be missed!
He is survived by his wife, Mary Alice; six children and their spouses: Lauraine Dwyer of San Diego, Martha and Ken Fleming of Spokane, Paula and Michael Hart of Branson, MO, Cynthia Wren of Flagstaff, Tom Jr. and Laurie of Phoenix and Amie and Michael Whittle of Spokane; eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren; three sisters: Margaret Davidson of Greenville, MI, Anne Thiede of Brighton, MI and Judith Robinson of Livonia, MI., and many nieces and nephews.
Tom’s Memorial Mass will be held Monday, August 18th, 2014 at 11:00am at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, 1517 E. 33rd Ave., Spokane.
Graveside, with Military Honors, will be at 3:00pm, August 18th at the Veterans Cemetery, in Medical Lake.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donations in his name to Hillsdale College and VFW.
Please visit Tom’s online memorial at www.hennesseyfuneralhomes.com