In Memoriam

This blog is intended for the sharing of research I've done on my Trout ancestors. Just a week before my classes started this semester, my grandpa died, and so this first post is dedicated to him and his family that have already gone on before him. I wasn't extremely close to him and hadn't seen him in several years, but he was still my grandfather.

His passing just reminded me once again why I do this family history thing--so that those people we both care and have curiosity about are not forgotten. And it helped me decide as well to do this blog project about his family specifically.

Thomas Murel Trout

4 August 1937 - 30 December 2012

SFC Thomas M. Trout in his U.S. Army uniform.

*Note: Because most of Grandpa Tommy's relatives are still living and I want to protect their privacy, I have condensed and made this biography as anonymous as possible. Mentions by name are made by his obituary, however.

Thomas "Tommy" Murel Trout was born 4 August 1937 in the tiny panhandle town of Alanreed, Gray, Texas to James Wesley and Susie Ann Lou (Cooper) Trout. He had nine siblings (of which eight were sisters). When his father died when Tommy was only about thirteen, he dropped out of school to help his mother provide for their family.

He later joined the U.S. Army and served in both the Korean War and Vietnam. His military work took him all over, from his home state of Texas to California, New Mexico, and for many years, Germany. 

He was the father of six children: one son and five daughters, among them my mother.

I will always remember him as being one of the hardest workers I've ever known. He loved being outdoors and fishing. In his later years, he had a successful lawn care business. Although due to the hardships of his youth he was unable to gain an education, he always expressed his pride in his grandchildren for doing well in school and impressed upon us its importance.

He died of an illness on Sunday, 30 December 2012 in Burkburnett, Wichita, Texas and was buried with full military honors on January 7, 2013 at Fort Sill National Cemetery in Elgin, Comanche, Oklahoma.

His obituary in the Wichita Falls Informer-Star: http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2013/jan/05/thomas-murel-trout/