Thomas Childress (78) of St. Pete,
Florida, passed away on Monday, May
21st, 2019 with his wife and friends at
his side. He is survived by his wife,
Olita, of 20 years and family in Florida
and Kentucky. We loved you, dear man.
Tom was a brave, good man, willing
to try hard, interested in new things,
loved his wife, family, and friends, and
he never said a mean thing. He loved
life and people and was outgoing and
funny. Tom was smart and he loved
history, adventures, trains, and fishing.
He could tell a great story about fishing
or about trains and he worked at being
independent and doing the things he
was able and learning new things in
order to live in the community in his
supported living program. He worked at
Ted Peters smoked fish house doing
dishes and worked at PARC for many
years. He worked hard to achieve his
goals and to be independent.
Tom enjoyed life in general - from
old movies to country music to going out
to eat and having great trips and
adventures. He loved fishing and he
loved and knew a lot about trains. He
was born in Corbin, Kentucky, down the
road from Colonel Sanders. His dad
worked for the railroad and they moved
to St. Pete when Tom and his sister
were young and Tom loved trains ever
since. He created several train cities in
his garage at home with N-scale trains
which he enjoyed building on and
showing in the H&R annual train show.
We wish to thank Jim for being at his
side for the past 24 years and guiding
him through his daily routines.
We also wish to thank the doctors in
Tom's life who cared for him for the past
20 years and the oncology nurses and
APRN's at Florida Cancer Specialists at
the St. Anthony's location.
There are no services scheduled at this time.