Thomas A. Woodrow, Pullman resident, passed away Friday, April 16, 2021, at the Pullman Regional Hospital. He was 74.
The family will greet friends 1-3 p.m. Wednesday at Kimball Funeral Home in Pullman. Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday in the Pullman City Cemetery. A celebration of life service will be in May in Citrus Heights, Calif.
Thomas was born July 27, 1946, in Ottumwa, Iowa, to Marion and Gladys Woodrow. When he was 5, the family moved to Mississippi. He grew up in a small town there and graduated from Brookhaven High School in Brookhaven, Miss.
He was an ambitious young man and worked various jobs, including at the drive-in theater and at a TV shop. He graduated from Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson, Miss., with an interest in electronics. He met Sandra Ray in his hometown and they married Feb. 18, 1967. Later that year, they made the move to California and settled in the Bay Area. Tom worked for Lockheed Missile and Space for a while and then held various jobs in similar fields.
For over 20 years, he operated his own consulting business in the electrical power industry. Tom and Sandra enjoyed trips on their Gold Wing motorcycle in the 1970s and he always liked to tinker with the latest gadgets coming out of the computer era.
He loved spending time with their daughter, Alisa, and he enjoyed their play time as she grew up. Owning his own business kept him away from home quite a bit, so he decided it was time for a change. He took a job at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratory in Pullman in 2007 and they moved to Pullman. Tom worked at SEL in the electrical engineering field that he loved until October 2020, when he retired.
He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Sandra, at their Pullman home; his daughter, Alisa Woodrow, of Citrus Heights, Calif.; and two granddaughters, Isabella and Riley. He was preceded in death by his parents and by his brother, Jack. An online guest book is at www.kimballfh.com. Kimball Funeral Home of Pullman is caring for the family.
