French, Thomas
92, of New Port Richey, Florida, passed away October 30, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Joan; his nine children, Rosemarie (Arthur) Van Hecke, Catherine Burger, Thomas (Grace) French Jr., Edward (Carolann) French, Steven (Cynthia) French, Shirley French, Cecelia French, Pamela (Michael) Howe, and Richard French; thirteen grandchildren; eleven great-grandchildren; and his sister, Martha Jane Schulmerich

Pictures: Tom in the Navy, Family 1964, Family 1973 Dad took the picture Joan and kids attended grandson Kevin's wedding 2008, Dad 2020 Joan and Tom with flowers, celebrating 69th wedding anniversary ! Joan and Tom 1950 Joan and Tom, wedding day picture at home. Tom, Joan, Rosemarie, 1955 Tom and siblings, Francis, Tom, Norman, Martha 1933 Dinner time! Check out those candy bags and the size of the remote control ! Dad shucking corn; he enjoyed helping out in the kitchen.

Thomas was born in Washington, D.C. as the second child to Norman and Margaret French and was sibling to Francis, Norman and Martha.
Tommy was in the Jr. ROTC program and a graduate of Anacostia High School. He kept in touch with so many dear friends from the Anacostia Officers Club. He attended Columbia Technical Institute from 1948-1950 studying Electrical Drafting.
Tom was in the Naval Reserves, and had the opportunity to be on a cruise on an aircraft carrier trip to Turkey. He was a naval photographer and documented lots of Washington DC events.
He married Joan Burton and lived in Wash., DC for 8 more years, during which time he was a DC Firefighter. In 1951 he began to use those Draftsman skills, as a Lithographic Draftsman at the Navy Hydrographic Office in Suitland, MD. When Tom moved to his next job, he would be at the Naval Research Lab, now adding the Military drafting standards to his skillset. Here he would work on the Arobbe missile drawings. His next job, was at the Naval Gun Factory in Wash., DC, where he worked as a mechanical draftsman. From 1955-1960 he worked at RCA Serice Company. He did pencil and ink drawings of communication systems, prepared topographical maps, prepared mechanical details and assemblies from engineering sketches. He worked on 5 different contracts during this time. Notice came in that RCA was shutting down this office in Alexandria, VA but there was work for him in California if he would like to transfer there. The decision to go was made and he took his family, with 5 kids and one on the way, to CA on a 707 jet.
In 1960, he joined the team in Van Nuys, CA, and prepared electronic schematic drawings and inked these on white linen. Tom was assigned to the Illustrating Group where he did inking on isometric illustrations. Some of his work was making corrections from engineering change notices, and he would interact with the engineers as well. The notice came thru that the Van Nuys office was closing. So, back home we went, a family with 6 kids and one of the way! Dad would get re-employed with RCA in Alexandria, VA, and start to work on the TARTAR Missile Program contract.
Not having a house yet in MD, we stayed at the Burton’s beach house in North Beach, MD and Tom made that trip to and from VA most days. That was before the MD/DC/VA beltway was built, so he had to go thru DC to get to Alexandria. Quite a trip. A house was bought on Murdock St., Marlow Heights, MD, and we moved in just before the 1st chilly night in October. At the end of the month, Cecelia was born.
Tom would continue working on different contracts with RCA, later bought by GE. He did lots of work relating to Nuclear Submarines. He took a lot of pride in his work; no room for error on those drawings. Years later, Tom and Joan moved to Lothian, MD and later yet, Tom retired in 1990, having completed 35 years at RCA/GE. Joan retired soon afterwards and they planned a camping trip visiting friends in many states. They had a great time. Some years later they moved to Silver Spring, MD.
Then it was off to FL., settling in New Port Richey, FL, near son Ed. They found a welcoming community and made wonderful friends, at church and have enjoyed being part of the New Port Richey, FL. Community. The Silver Sneakers program group and the neighbors have been such good friends.
We would like to thank all of you that have joined us in any way to bid farewell to Tom, Tommy, Brother, Husband, Dad, Granddad, Great-Granddaddy, and friend.
God Bless you all.