Thomas Macomber

Thomas Owen Macomber was born March 24, 1952, in Soudan, Minnesota to June Louise and James Harold Macomber. Tom grew up in Tower, Minnesota and spent the summers on Lake Vermilion. He enjoyed fishing, hiking, hunting, trapping, snowmobiling, camping, and exploring Northern Minnesota. He graduated from Tower-Soudan High School in 1970. He went to the University of Minnesota Duluth, and attended Marine boot camp in Quantico, Virginia. Tom started dating his wife Jeanne (Johnson) in 1971 and they were married December 6, 1974, after Tom returned from boot camp.

Tom worked as a heavy equipment mechanic in the mining industry. He began his career in Northern Minnesota but had to move out of the area he loved after being laid off. He worked for Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) in Wright, Wyoming; a Caterpillar Dealership in Holtsville, New York; Phelps Dodge (a copper mine) in Tyrone, New Mexico; and Colowyo Coal Company in Meeker, Colorado where he then settled with his family in Craig, Colorado in 1990.

Tom absolutely loved being a mechanic. He was proud of being an expert on the LeTourneau and missed working as a mechanic after retiring. During his retirement he took up beekeeping, he was always making up his own jokes and would email them to his children in the middle of the night, he regularly attended The Journey at First Baptist where he loved his Pastor Len Browning, and he went on many road trips with Jeanne. They most recently traveled out of the country to Belize in March 2021.

Tom and Jeanne had 4 children Erica, Ryan, Nathan, and Alyssa. He would often work the midnight shift and still drive to watch them play basketball games or run cross country or track meets hours away. He was very supportive and proud of his children.

He died of a brief and sudden blood infection on December 4, 2021, at the Medical Center of Aurora in Aurora, Colorado, with family by his side.  Our family is heartbroken to no longer have him here with us, but he believed in God, and we know we will see him again someday.

Tom was preceded in death by his son, Ryan Matthew; his sister, Judith Ann (Lofquist); his brother, James Robert; his mother, June Louise (Johnson); his father, James Harold; and his father-in-law, William Sterling Johnson.

Tom is survived by his wife of 47 years, Jeanne Marie; his mother-in-law, Jule (Jean) Esther Johnson of Gilbert, Minnesota; his brother, William David Macomber of Tower, Minnesota; his children, Erica (Jason) Love of Monument, Colorado, Nathan (Teal) of Lincoln, Missouri, and Alyssa (Steven) Smeal of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is also survived by his 6 grandchildren, Ava Madelyn and Juliet Sophia Love, Cooper Daniel, Ely Belle, and Easton Bow Macomber, and Everly Charlotte Smeal, as well as many other relatives and friends.

At Tom’s request, he was cremated, and no services were held.