Semper Fi

Thomas Edwin McDonough was born April 2, 1931, to Thomas E. McDonough Sr. and Ophelia Jakes McDonough in Richmond, Kentucky. At a young age, his family moved to Decatur, Georgia, for his father’s job as Physical Education department head at Emory University. Tom graduated from North Druid Hills High School, where he was named most flirtatious. During that time he was active in Boy Scouts and attained Eagle Scout. He was a rockstar swimmer for the Atlanta Swim Association, setting numerous records. He attended Emory, where he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity and where he met his future wife, a young nursing student and crack pool player. Tom swam the breaststroke and relays for Emory and in the HavAtlanta games, an annual event between athletes of Atlanta and Havana, Cuba. He earned both his BA and his MA from Emory. He married Claire Tompkins in 1953, and their first child arrived a year later.

He joined the Marine Corps and was stationed at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina, reaching the rank of 1st Lieutenant. While his active duty time was short, his Marine Corps training and service was one of the defining periods of his life and started his transformation into a pacifist. In 1958, following the birth of his second child, Tom and his family moved to Englewood, Florida, where he was a teacher and then principal of Englewood Elementary; among other accomplishments there, he started a special ed class of sorts, that served those who were experiencing failure in school. He drove around town in his blue Austen-Healy Sprite with a Playboy sticker on the window and all four kids in the passenger seat. He took his children to spend nights at an often-vandalized construction site for an African-American family who was trying to build a home. Claire’s and Tom’s house was open to all who needed it and their hospitality was often accepted. He was also principal of Gulf Gate Elementary, Venice High, and Nokomis Elementary. He was a co-founder of Ekistia, a private school in Osprey, Florida. He and Claire made legendary annual Easter camping trips to Marathon in the Florida Keys, with their kids and dozens of their kids’ friends.

In 1975, the McDonoughs moved to Boone, North Carolina, where he worked for Upward Bound. He returned to school for his degree in X-ray technology, and then moved with Claire to Georgia where he taught X-ray at Griffin Tech. They moved back to Boone upon retirement, at which point he worked for Mast Store. The Episcopal Church, especially Holy Cross in Valle Crucis, was important to him. He served on the Executive Committee of the Diocese of Western NC, and was five times Senior Warden of various churches, twice at Holy Cross. There were many organizations whose work he supported: The Lung Association, North Carolina International Dyslexia Association, Oasis, the NAACP.

But through and through he was a Marine, and that permeated all he did. Although he never saw combat, he was a patriot who believed in defending his country by standing up for justice and peace. He talked often about the comfort that came from knowing that the Marines never left a man behind. And in his life, he constantly worked to make sure none WERE left behind. Whether it was a child at school or in Upward Bound, a foster child or just one of the many runaways that were dropped off by police at the McDonough house, those with learning disabilities, the hungry, or those who had suffered domestic abuse, he was an advocate and a spokesperson for the lost and forgotten. He went with Witness for Peace to Nicaragua. In 2014, he was arrested at the NCGA Legislative Building for standing up for voting rights and education. He wore a Marine Corps cap, and as he was led away in handcuffs, he could hear police officers whispering as he passed, “Semper Fi.”

In later years, much of his advocacy centered around those Marines and their families who were vulnerable to several ailments due to water poisoning at Camp LeJeune from 1953 to 1985. His son Scott, who was in utero at the time of Tom’s service, developed Multiple Myeloma, one of the diseases caused by chemicals dumped into groundwater. Both Tom and Scott became advocates, attending meetings and conferences designed to educate and gain services for those affected. Recently Tom was diagnosed with both Myleodysplasic Syndrome and Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, both Camp LeJeune-caused diseases. He decided to fight the illnesses because he did not want to leave his son and wife behind to fight for this cause on their own. Ultimately the diseases proved too much for him and he died peacefully at Watauga Medical Center on June 9, 2017, with his beloved family by his side.

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Claire Tompkins McDonough; his four children Linda Ree, Scott, Randy (Andrea), and Leslie (Scott Sharpe); his grandchildren Brett (Meredith), Lindsay, Tom (Allison), Molly (Garrett), Josh, and Brianna; his brother Robert (Lisa); and his dog Ginger. His funeral service will be at Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Valle Crucis, Saturday, June 17, at 11:00 am. Memorials may go to Holy Cross or the Hunger Coalition (https://www.hungerandhealthcoalition.com).

Semper Fi, Dad.