Originally posted by Amy on Facebook on Wednesday, May 31, 2017 (updated on Tuesday, June 6, 2017):
The last several days have been difficult as we have been saying our goodbyes to the amazing Mr. Tom Chaney. He is one special man who has a precious soul.
He and I've enjoyed listening to his favorite hymns this week, while sprinkling in some tunes by Marty Robbins, Bob Wills, and Hank Williams. I've made sure to include Tom and Travis's favorite cowboy songs in our custom playlist as well, like "Little Joe the Wrangler"! We also came across Old Hank's "Roly Poly" and "My Bucket's Got a Hole In It", both of which have special meaning to Tom and his sons. I think our nurses at the Lubbock Hospitality House, Tiffany, Christy, Keena, and Ms. Peggy, have enjoyed the little sing-a-longs that have ensued between the tears as well. Mr. Tom loved his western music, and his music had to be western, none of that "Johnny Cash rock-n-roll stuff!"
For those who do not know the fearless cowboy Mr. Tom, he used to break horses for a living, which resulted in many injuries that later required ankles, knee, and shoulder replacements, just to name a few. He was our very own horse whisper, for he never revealed his secret to conquering a horse's free-will and taming it. However, once, in a moment of weakness, Mr. Tom finally told Travis, and Travis doesn't keep it a secret - he used a mud pit!
Once, Mr. Tom was in a coma for ten days, for what I always thought, was the result of an epic wrangle that he and one particular bronc had! I was corrected about this story just yesterday, though, when my husband informed me that his daddy had been hit by a car as he was leaving a movie theatre, and that's what actually put him in a coma! Either way you tell the story, Mr. Tom was one tough cowboy! I always loved listening to him tell stories from days gone by - he was a hero to many.
Mr. Tom loved his family, and what a large family he has; and, if you weren't actually born to him, you were still considered his child! Mr. Tom especially cherished his wife, Katheren, to his final days. Even when his memory was slipping, Tom was always concerned about Katheren's well-being. They loved hard, and they fought hard as well! We all have stories about their stubborn tendencies and knacks for dishing out their misgivings to one another, but their love never wavered. Even the nursing home staff has some funny stories to tell about the love birds who adored one another so much it hurt and who could also fight like cats and dogs that they had to be separated! That was Tom and Katheren Chaney!
In his latter years, when our "cowboy truck driver" wasn't on the road making his long delivery hauls across the country, Mr. Tom spent countless hours preparing his Sunday School lessons with a hot cup of coffee just within his reach. He knew the Scriptures and was a faithful servant for our Lord, a quality that I've always admired about him. I recall several times when Travis and I would drive over to a local lumber yard on the east Loop late Saturday nights, where Mr. Tom provided over-night security guard services, just to keep him company for a while and to learn what he was preparing for his Sunday morning Bible lessons. We treasure those moments.
But, let me digress and focus once more on coffee for a moment: Mr. Tom enjoyed a hot cup of black coffee; it wasn't very often that you would see him without a piping hot mug of it within his reach! Once, Travis hired his daddy to work at his store for a United Supermarkets weekend patio sale. Rather than doing what his son instructed him to do on the patio, Mr. Tom was teaching the store's guests how to brew coffee in a paper bag instead! He had the whole set-up: an open flame, water, coffee, and a paper bag. His audience loved it, of course, and enjoyed the fresh brew. Mr. Tom was baffled that Travis put him back to work, though, after his demonstration was complete - there was so much more that he wanted to share with the folks! Tom Chaney was a true cowboy!
If you ever had an opportunity to taste Mr. Tom's homegrown tomatoes, then you experienced the delightful juiciness of summer straight from his garden. What a green thumb he had! Katheren helped too, by yelling out the back door, "Tom, beat those tomato plants with the broom!" As if he'd forget to do that! Giving up his garden was one of the hardest things he ever had to do - even harder than giving up his car keys - and he was not very happy when his children had to remind him often that he could no longer tend that massive garden! His boys had to secretly and slowly, over a period of time, confiscate his gardening tools and machinery just to keep him from performing the back-breaking work of gardening. Mr. Tom was not pleased with them!
Maybe you saw Mr. Tom riding his three-wheeler bicycle around Shallowater selling his fresh, shelled pecans - perhaps you had to help pick him AND his bicycle up off the street, since he was prone to tipping it over on occasion! Have I mentioned how tough he was? He never slowed down, though, and he never considered himself retired.
Mr. Tom spent some time as a door greeter at Wal-Mart. He bought a straw hat for every season and for every holiday, then he'd spray paint the hat and decorate it for that particular moment in time. I was most fond of his red Christmas cowboy hat, which was trimmed with some white fur (like Santa's coat), and bedazzled with some sprigs of holly! He passed out candy canes to all of the children who entered the store during the holidays. I'd like to think that they were all so fond of Mr. Tom, their cowboy Santa! And, just a friendly reminder, as Tom taught all of us, "Never lay your cowboy hat down the wrong way, and don't ever put it on the bed."
Speaking of Christmas: I loved Mr. Tom's cowboy Christmas trees! Katheren, not so much, though. I guess I can understand that she wasn't pleased when during the Christmas holidays, her husband would find the biggest tumbleweed in West Texas, drag it home, and decorate it with the rinds of various fruits: apples, oranges, etc. He'd proudly display his holiday spirit on their front porch. The cowboy Christmas trees were befitting of Katheren's cowboy, though! They were also thrown in the trash every December 26th - first thing in the morning!
Perhaps you visited with Mr. Tom at Circle S while he was there drinking coffee with his local pals and "holding down the fort". Tom was the self-appointed security guard at the local store, especially during school lunch times! He ran a tight ship. This was one particular "job" that Katheren loved for Tom to do because it got him out of her hair for a few hours! He loved everyone that walked in and out of that door, though. Mr. Tom did not know a stranger.
Or, you could've cooked a fresh Dairy Queen hamburger patty for his dog, Dolly, every day. Oh, how he loved that little poodle. Do you remember when she jumped out of his truck window one day as they were driving home from the DQ? Dolly was fine and uninjured, but Mr. Tom was devastated for days after it had happened. What a tender heart he had.
I bet you saw him chasing his dog Teddy down the street a few times, too! That dog gave Mr. Tom the slip sometimes and would run like the wind! Do you remember that time when Teddy was pulling the enormous cinder block down Texas Avenue that Mr. Tom had him tethered to in order to prevent him from running off? Mr. Tom caught him though, eventually. When Teddy and Tom weren't "exercising", they would ride up and down Avenue L in their golf cart keeping abreast of all the Shallowater goings-on - what a sight they were!
However you knew Tom Chaney, I bet you loved him! How could you not? Watching Mr. Tom decline was heart-wrenching, yet we all know the heavenly reward that awaited him when he crossed over to the other side. Mr. Tom was ready, but I, selfishly, was not. He always loved me and welcomed me with open arms. He treated everyone that way. I will miss him terribly, as we all will, and I expect him to have a dominoes game set up and ready for us when it's my turn to go Home as well. Being with Mr. Tom when he took his final breath on Saturday, June 3, 2017, at 1:54 AM, was an honor. It is a privilege to be his daughter-in-law.
I'd like to leave this final image in your mind: David whispered to his daddy on Friday night, "Your bucket no longer has a hole in it, Daddy." No, it doesn't, Mr. Tom...
