Tom Salmons died surrounded by his family at CT Hospice on Dec. 28, 2023, at the age of 80. Tom was born in Peoria, Illinois, and lived in Oildale, California, until he moved to San Mateo, California, at the age of 18. He met Joan, who would become his lifelong wife and companion, on New Year’s Eve in 1964; they were married on New Year’s Eve two years later and spent the past 57 years by each other’s sides.

From 1964-’66, he served in the U.S. Air Force in the Philippines and Okinawa. He spent his professional life as an air traffic controller in Fremont, CA, and had a lifelong passion for airplanes and flight. In 2005, Tom and Joan moved to Guilford with their daughter and grandchildren. Tom adored his grandchildren, Holden and Dulcey. He was with them every day during their early years, and those were some of the happiest years of his life. He gave them a magical childhood filled with creative storytelling, treasure hunts, much laughter, and all kinds of adventures, from building forts in the woods to watching trains pass at the train station. For years, he and Joan took Holden to weekly hospital visits for a rare medical condition, and Tom turned these melancholy visits into weekly adventures full of joy and excitement for Holden.

A serious movie buff, he loved watching movies and sharing them with his family and anyone willing to watch with him. When he and Joan moved to Solstice last October, he took over the movie club there and expanded it from three days a week to four and was planning to go to five days a week. He loved to read and brought a Terry Pratchett book with him just about everywhere he went. He volunteered with the Friends of the Guilford Library for the past 18 years and loved the community of people there. Even in the past months and years, as it became harder for him to work, he showed up almost every day just to say hello and joke around with his friends there.

Music was an important part of his life. Tom was the drummer on The Paradons’ 1960 Top 20 hit, “Diamonds and Pearls,” which is still available on an Oldies but Goodies record. He loved dramatic movie soundtracks and believed that listening to them at anything below max volume was tantamount to ruining them. In his early adult years, he enjoyed bowling, and in the late 1970s, he won first place in the national Hoinke Classic bowling tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Tom was predeceased by his beloved daughter, Teresa, in 1973. He is survived by his wife, Joan Salmons; his daughter, Sheryl Culotta; his grandson, Holden Culotta; and his granddaughter, Dulcey Culotta.

Memorial donations may be made in Tom’s name to the Guilford Free Library, 67 Park Street, Guilford, CT 06437.