His absence is a silent grief….His life a beautiful memory….
Tommy was born on Mother’s Day. I can truly say that he terrified me as a mother because I didn’t know how to raise a child or take care of a baby, but it was the BEST Mother’s Day gift EVER! We named the beautiful child Thomas James Hood, III. Tommy played sports and learned to be competitive and instead of playing sports throughout his schooling. He took the mental part of sports and the competitive mind of sports with him throughout high school, college and law school. Tommy was awarded his degree from Loyola Law School. One of his professors came to Tommy’s memorial service to present it to him. I couldn’t have been prouder.
Tommy never met someone that he couldn’t hold a conversation whether they were children or in their 90s. He decided to not just follow the crowd, but found some of his closest friends that were transfers from other schools and distant countries, but he also had some lifelong friends that he met at First Baptist Church Daycare. I couldn’t have prayed for the quality of friends Tommy surrounded himself with throughout his life. There was really a sense of family and a sense of loyalty. The love I saw at the memorial from these boys showed that Tommy’s family wasn’t the only one who was suffering. Tommy’s “brothers” both broke my heart and touched my heart simultaneously.
Tommy loved his Chevelle, his watches, his shoes, his tie clips, his RayBans, his cufflinks, his truck…..but I have no doubt that his most precious things in his life were his family and his friends.
Tommy loved hanging with his boys. He loved sitting in a deer blind, taking apart and cleaning guns, collecting Elvis memorabilia and old oil signs. He loved Nan’s tea and laying on Nan’s couch and sweet talking his way through his visit because he said “Nanna…..” in a certain way that mom couldn’t ever say no. Tommy had Nanna and PaPaw wrapped. He loved stirring up debates (the same ones over and over) between mom and dad. He loved going to his dad’s for dinner once a week. He got off work everyday and made a Beeline to Hood Auto in Amite so he could find someone to prank. He loved pranking anyone…..Clay was his roommate at LSU and I think he got more than his fair share of Tommy’s pranks. He loved messing with his brother. He drove Bill nuts but Bill couldn’t keep a straight face for long because one of us was usually witness to it and we were cracking up and Tommy was laughing so hard he would have tears in his eyes. It usually cracked Bill….maybe not every time but for the most part, Bill had to eventually laugh. We all knew to be on high alert because it was normal to wake up in the middle of the night and have. a 6’3” man standing silently next to your bed or in the doorway. It would scare the beegeezus out of you! I would scream at him and tell him that I had a gun and it wasn’t safe for him to do that He had a deep giggle and “It’s ok, momma” patting my shoulder would have him out of the dog house. He knew calling me “momma” had an effect on me and I would melt. Mom was normal but momma got him anything he ever wanted. He loved his 4-legged, mans best friend, Whiskey. Whiskey was his therapy dog. They were so cute to gather. Bill has Whiskey now and they bonded which was so helpful because Whiskey was very upset when he couldn’t find Tommy. Bill has won Whiskey over. Tommy loved shopping (I don’t know where he got that from ??) He loved tinkering with and driving his Blue Chevelle, his “dream car”. Tommy would usually be up for anything even when we knew he felt bad, he got up and lived his best life. Not much would keep him down. I always admired that about him. He loved his entire family. He was never going to miss anything family oriented.
One night after much sickness and total hair loss, Tommy sat in bed and told me that cancer stripped him of his ego, but it made him a better person. Hard to believe that a 24 year old would say that. He was so brave in the face of this monster he was fighting. He was saved and Baptized in January 2023 and he gave it all to God. He didn’t show signs of defeat even when the doctor came in to tell us of the areas where new tumors were found. I asked him if he wanted to go home and he said “Yes”. I think that he wasn’t sad or scared, but I do believe when I asked him if he wanted to go “home” that his soul was ready to go to his “eternal home”.
He would uplift people with his smiles, his hugs and his positivity, but his flirtations with all the ladies that took care of him at work gave him so much to enjoy during his time at Smitty’s. He absolutely loved his job and he loved his work family so much.
From May 2021 through November 2024, my boy became a super hero in my eyes. He handled it like a man. He worked full time, he went to law school and took chemo every third week. However, with all that, he ALWAYS found time with his friends and family. My family still can’t understand how a 25 year old boy with the battles and battle scars could muster up the energy to make every family member special. He was our gentle , soft hearted giant.
We miss his laugh,, we miss his hugs, we miss hearing “I love you!”, we miss his face and we don’t get to watch him grow up and become a husband and father. I don’t understand why God picked me to be Tommy’s mom. I really think it was for Tommy to raise me. God needed a helper and found that in Tommy.
I think I can speak for all his Hood family, his friends, his “boys”, his Settoon/Schumacher family, his Smitty’s family and his faith were the most valuable things in his life.
I could go on and on but I’ll be adding as I get the strength to reflect.
Tommy, we love and we miss you dearly. Until we meet again once our time here has ended, we will never let a day go by without laughing, crying and smiling about our precious memories of our blonde haired baby boy and our gentle giant man child. Tommy didn’t live a long life. But every minute he lived, he made the most of it. He didn’t let the monster that was attacking his body keep him down. He was such a fighter. I don’t know many people that face such adversities with such determination and vigor. He was always my hero because I could never have done what he did for as long as he did it. My super man-child! If there is ever a minute when you think me and my family are ok and Tommy isn’t on our mind or right under the surface, you are wrong. We will never let his memory fade.
WE LOVE YOU, Tommy Hood