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| Picture of the author and the subject much younger |
Tom Bryson died early in the morning of 8 July, 2025 at the age of 89. He died in his sleep in the assisted living unit of Aldersgate, where he had been living for several years, in the company of friends and originally his wife, Martha. He remained physically active until very recently, walking the grounds, chatting to neighbours, and taking part in church and in dinners. He spoke with many visitors from his bed even the day before his death. He was surrounded by love.
Tom Bryson was born Harry Thomas Bryson (entered as “(Harry) Thomas Bryson” in the family Bible) in Springfield, Illinois on 10 April 1936, to Harry Bryson and Eunice Mable Sullivan Bryson. Harry Bryson’s parents, a coal miner and a weaver, had migrated from Scotland, while Eunice Bryson’s parents, an electrician and a homemaker, had migrated from New England. Harry and Eunice met at a social event at Eunice’s church. Harry started out also working in the coal mines rigging explosives, but eventually became an executive at Greybar Electric. Tom and his older sister, Dorothy Pet Bryson, grew up in a small wood-framed house near their paternal grandparents, with frequent visits to their maternal grandparents in Connecticut. During WWII, Harry was recognised for contributions to US logistics through his employment, and Eunice for her volunteer work, particularly with the Red Cross. Tom graduated from Springfield High School in 1954. Soon after, Tom and Dorothy moved to Chicago where Tom attended the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Struggling scholastically – and with looming eligibility for the military draft – Tom dropped out and volunteered for the US Army. He met his first wife, Donna Joan (pronounced like "Joanne") Swezey, while stationed in Red Bank, New Jersey, where she was attending Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. They met while Donna was leading the Youth Sunday School program which Tom attended. Tom proposed to Donna before being deployed to El Paso, Texas; on consideration she accepted. They married in Red Bank on 3 January 1961, then began their new life together in El Paso, she as a music teacher, he as a radio operator providing intelligence at the Mexican border.
After his term of service, Tom and Donna returned to her native Wisconsin, where Tom attended the Milwaukee School of Engineering, while Donna supported the family by continuing to teach music in public schools. Tom graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering just after the birth of his first daughter, Joanna Joy Bryson, and found employment with Square D Electrical Supply and Distribution, where he worked his entire career. His job took the family to Omaha, Nebraska, where a second daughter was born, Barbara Faith Bryson (now Bird). After working initially in sales, Tom was promoted to head of marketing training, and transferred to the corporate headquarters outside Chicago, Illinois, in 1970. His daughters grew up and were educated in Carol Stream, Illinois, near Tom’s parents’ home at that time in Glen Ellen. Later, Tom’s sister Dorothy also moved to Carol Stream to assist with caring for their mother, following a career in Philadelphia with General Electric as first a computer, then a computer programmer. The family attended Geneva Road Baptist Church, where Tom was extremely active, as an adult Sunday School teacher, a member of the diaconate, and a handyman.
Tom suffered from a drinking problem. Originally teetotal, he was instructed to drink during his Square D training as a salesman. As his life progressed, his drinking became problematic, and in 1983 he was horizontally transferred to a Square D plant in Monroe. The family settled in Matthews. Both towns were near Charlotte, North Carolina, where the family joined St. John’s Baptist Church, and were again very active. Tom gave up drinking, and joined AA. Professionally, he contributed an engineering solution that reduced Square D’s CFC emissions during the global ozone crisis, thereby helping the planet. He and his parents had long been devoted to environmental concerns and were members of the Sierra Club.
Tom’s first marriage dissolved after 29 years. Five years later, on 30 October 1993, he married another St. John’s member, widow Martha Nanney Mullaney, and accepted her two adult sons Brian and Scott as his own, and she his daughters. Following Tom’s retirement from Square D (and Martha’s from Wachovia / First Union, where she worked as a teller), they became even more busy, with volunteering and philanthropy mostly through St. Johns – delivering meals, supporting migrants and victims of AIDS, assisting in hurricane recovery with Habitat for Humanity, and much more. Tom was for some years the treasurer and a board member of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, for which he and Martha travelled. He also sang weekly in the choir of every church he attended, from a young age, as a bass.
Tom, Martha, Donna, and all their parents were deeply religious, a faith they also all raised their children in. Tom was very devoted not only to his family and their churches, but to God. He firmly believed in a Christian necessity of active stewardship of our planet, all its life, and all its peoples. He cared for and strived to love all. He maintained political engagement, discussing world, national, state, and local events with anyone, including on social media such as facebook and twitter. He was also passionate about science, and technology.
Tom and Martha found time to travel globally, sometimes with their children or Martha’s family. Martha predeceased Tom in early 2023, also after 29 years of marriage; Donna died in 2010, Dorothy in 1992. Tom is survived by Martha’s sons, Brian Mullaney and his partner, Les Faulk, of Atlanta, GA and Scott Mullaney and his wife, Lynn and their daughter, Heather Coggins, of Raleigh, NC; and by his own daughters, Joanna Bryson and her husband, Will Lowe, of Berlin, Germany, and Barbara Bird and her husband, Kevin Bird, of Charlotte, NC and their daughter, Rebecca Bird and her partner Luke Nissen of Elgin, IL.
The family respectfully suggests donations to St. John's Baptist Church, Doctors Without Borders, or the Sierra Club be made in lieu of flowers.
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