Thomas Kerin

World War II Army Air Force veteran and former Great Falls Tribune editor Thomas Stewart Kerin, 95, a longtime Great Falls resident currently residing in Bozeman, died of natural causes Friday, May 21, 2010, at a Bozeman care facility. A Vigil Service will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 26, at O'Connor Funeral Home in Great Falls. Funeral Liturgy is at 10 a.m. Thursday at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Great Falls. Thomas Stewart Kerin ended his life's journey on May 21, 2010. The Lord called him home after a full life at the age of 95. He was born in Anaconda on May Day 1, 1915, to Joseph and Anna Kerin. With the outbreak of the flu epidemic, circa 1919, the family moved first to Hamilton, and eventually made a permanent move to Missoula, where Tom and his two sisters, Marybelle and Kay, finished high school, attending Missoula County High. Tom's interest in writing began early when he signed on as the editor for his high school newspaper. That sparked his interest in journalism that lasted a lifetime. He enrolled at The University Montana in 1936, earning a bachelor's degree from the School of Journalism in 1940. Tom began his professional career right away in the spring of 1940, accepting his first job as a reporter for the Helena Record. He worked for the Record until 1942, when he enlisted in the Army Air Force (AAF) in the fall of 1942. He was immediately selected for and attended officer candidate school and served his country in the air intelligence branch of the AAF during World War II. Tom rose to the rank of captain when the war ended. He was reunited with his Missoula sweetheart, Margaret Rolczynski, following his discharge from the service, and married her in 1946. Tom and Margaret moved to Centralia, Wash., where Tom continued his writing career as a reporter for the Centralia Chronicle from 1946-1948. Homesick for Montana, they returned to the state and this time settled in Great Falls, where Tom took a job with the Great Falls Tribune in May 1948. Intending to stay for only a year, the two stayed a lifetime in Great Falls. Tom spent 36 years with the Trib, serving as the paper's sports editor, state editor, and finally retiring as its business editor in 1984. With his good friend, Ron Rice, the two published the Montana Catholic Register for many years. Tom was truly the last of his breed of gentile writers. He could cover a story like none other, and you were compelled to read it. Tom and Margaret thoroughly enjoyed their brief retirement years together and traveled extensively until Margaret's sudden death in early 1988. Tom spent the next 23 years continuing his travel urge and doing the things he loved. He enjoyed most the extended visits and reunions with family and friends on the West Coast and throughout the Intermountain West. His fondest travel memories were his trips to the Seattle and the Oregon Coast. When not traveling and planning his next trip, Tom was a dedicated volunteer. He worked for the Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce through the Retired Senior Volunteer Program. He volunteered, too, as a teacher's aide with Genie Goodman at Longfellow Elementary School in Great Falls, at the Great Falls Visitor Center, Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, Benefis Hospital and the Great Falls Senior Center. His favorite activities as a volunteer were reading to Genie's kids and pushing wheelchair patients around the Benefis campus. While living in Bozeman at the end of his life, he continued his volunteering at the Bozeman Visitor Center and Child Care Connections. Throughout his lifetime he held offices as the president of the Great Falls Newspaper Guild and the Knights of Columbus, where he was a lifetime member. He received both the Great Falls Tribune's Editor's and Scotty awards, while with the Trib. Tom was nationally recognized in 2004 for his dedication to volunteering through the President's Call to Service Award. He truly made a difference in this world through his civic participation. By 2002 he had well over 4,000 community service hours. Tom always had to check his volunteer calendar before scheduling his vacation trips. A cancer survivor of 51 years, Tom lived independently for the 60-plus years he lived in Great Falls. He drove himself wherever he went until a head-on traffic accident in 2008 quickly ended his independence and changed his life forever. He was compelled to relocate to Bozeman were he lived at the Bozeman Lodge for the remainder of his life. His greatest joy in life was always time spent with family and close friends. It's these people that will truly miss him. No one had a gentler demeanor, warmer heart, soft-spoken delivery and charismatic smile than Tom. He never said an unkind word about anyone and none were ever said of him. If you took the time to get to know him, he was your friend for life. A couple of highlights in Tom's life worthy of mention are his interview with Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932 as a sophomore, writing for his high school newspaper. While in the service and stationed in the South, he met and spent an afternoon visiting with Margaret Mitchell, too, in Atlanta, who, of course, wrote Gone with the Wind. By the time he had finished that day with Ms. Mitchell, Tom felt he made a friend for life. Special thanks go out to the wonderful management, staff and residents at the Bozeman Lodge. All welcomed Tom into this wonderful facility and into their personal lives. It was truly a home away from home for Tom. A special thanks, too, goes out to the wonderful staff at Child Care Connections in Bozeman and the staff at Rocky Mountain Hospice. The Kerin family is forever grateful for your kindness. Tom is survived by his daughters, Judy Green of Eugene, Ore., and Susan Simshaw of Vancouver, Wash.; son, Rick Kerin of Bozeman; sons-in-law, Richard Green and Calvin Simshaw; and daughter-in-law, Mary Frost; his grandchildren, Kerin Green, Drew and Darby Simshaw and Meggie and Matt Kerin. In addition to his wife, Margaret, he was preceded in death by his youngest son, Kelly, in 2008. To say he will be missed is an understatement. We all know, though, that he's in a much better place now. Rest peacefully, Dad.