"I am deeply saddened by the news of Tom’s death. I am delighted that he was able to gladden the hearts of so many others over the intervening years as he did when we shared our rites of passage in HMCS Venture those many years ago.

He was christened with the epithet "Airly Beacon" after stumbling over a classroom reading of the poem of that name written by Charles Kingsley. You will notice as you read it, that the name of the English country vantage point is repeated often and fondly. Given Tom’s sonorous voice and the Instructor’s requirement that Tom re-start the metered reading a couple of times until he got it right, you can imagine how his unbidden emphasis of the words "Airly Beacon" earned him the name. True to form, Tom brushed off any sense of disparagement by adopting the title as representative of his inimitable personality and he wore the cloak proudly until it was just a unique name for a very special person.

I don’t think I have ever met a man with such sincerity, and compassion; one who always smiled in the face of adversity and got on with a life full of tomfoolery.

Tom was a classmate, roommate, friend and accomplice in much of our maturing process. All of us at Venture will find it difficult to forget the humour and tenderness that shone from his smiling eyes. Because of his gifts to all of us, his passing is diminished by his presence that remains in those that he knew and loved.

On behalf of the Venture Association and all Ventures, may I express my sincere condolences and propose an epitaph from a prose passage by the poet that provided his nickname: