There are no words for the sadness that has been in my heart since I heard the news of Tom's passing.
I have alot of memories of Tom Robertson but the one I will remember the most is when I was working at the Middle School. Tom came down to the main office where I was located with a tape recorder, a stop watch and a whistle and asked me to go to a quiet room and tape record myself blowing the whistle every 30 seconds for 5 minutes. I looked at him and could not believe he wanted me to do that but he explained he was going to use the recording for wrestling practice. As a wrestling coach, the wrestlers had to do rolls. The wrestler would roll to the left/right for 30 seconds and when the whistle was blown again it meant to reverse direction roll the opposite way. Well, because it was Tom, I couldn't say no. So I went to the Nurse's Office and because no one was in there, I thought this would be a good spot. So I proceeded to blow the whistle every 30 seconds for five minutes. When I was done, I took everything up to Tom and told him the job was done. I went back to my desk and thought that was that. Well I sat there with my co-workers laughing about what I had just done and how silly I felt and guess who comes running back down to the office? Yep, Tom and with the recorder, the stop watch and the whistle. He told me I had to do it over. "Are you kidding, why"? Well, during the recording, the bell rang and you could hear it in the background and that just would not work. (Didn't want to get those wrestlers confused) So of course for Tom I did it again without the bell in the background. That was just one of the many funny moments I was lucky enough to experience with Tom.
As I kid we grew up with his kids. He was my teacher and then in my adult life, he and Jane became our friends. My husband Joel and I were lucky to see Tom and Jane last fall at the Sidney football game where they were watching their grandson play.
Tom was a wonderful man and he will be missed by the Blincoe family. Lucky me for having the opportunity to know him
Rest in Peace Tom.
Love,
Jill and Joel Blincoe and Family