Thomas John Troy

Thomas Troy

Thomas John Troy, 89, of Waxahachie, TX, passed away on Tuesday, November 14, 2023, in Waxahachie, TX. Tom is preceded in death by parents, Thomas and Ann Troy, wife Linda Lee Troy, his sister, Martha Ribelin, and brother Bill Troy. He is survived by his sisters, Mary Troy and Jean Knauber, sister-in-law Brenda Barnett and many nieces and nephews.

Born November 13, 1934, in Dallas, Tx, Tom was one of 5 children. He had many adventures with his siblings but one of his fondest memories was delivering the Dallas Morning News on his bike to the residents in his neighborhood. He delivered the newspaper for years and frequently told stories of the dogs that would follow him on his paper route. Some were friendly and some were not, but he grew to love dogs and told stories of the things he learned from them. Tom was often heard telling others that he was “raised by dogs.” This always made everyone laugh. Tom learned how to get along with the dogs who were not friendly and how to interact with the ones who just wanted attention. This brought him to not just an appreciation for dogs, but a true love for all animals.

When Tom was growing up, he was always an entrepreneur. A very hard worker, he spent time building things, coming up with ideas to earn some extra money and finding clever ways to improve on things. He continued with this same entrepreneurship into adulthood and was very savvy at being able to turn an idea into a profitable venture.

Tom attended college at Arlington State College that later became UT Arlington and soon after enlisted in the United States Marine Corp. Among his Marine duties, he was a supply clerk and weapons specialist. He was so proud of the time he spent serving his country and always seemed so pleased when people thanked him for his service. His smile when people thanked him lit up the room.

After his tour with the Marines, he worked for the City of Dallas as a health inspector, including for the State Fair of Texas, evaluating all the fun fair food to be sure it was safe. There was even a story with a picture of Tom in the Dallas Morning News doing the evaluation of the fair food. He became Supervisor and ran the department for many years. Definitely a people person, Tom was very successful and very well liked, and never turned away from hard work

Because of his entrepreneurial spirit, Tom was able to retire early from the City of Dallas and became successful at his own ventures. From investing, to flipping houses before it was a popular thing to do, he showed an uncanny ability to know what would be successful. His willingness to work hard was always apparent.

Tom met his beloved wife Linda in Dallas, TX and they were married on January 6^th, 1968. They lived in different areas of Texas, but their favorite seemed to be living on their land in Hamilton, TX. A beautiful place with live oak trees, a creek, numerous fossils, arrowheads, and lots of critters running around, they enjoyed the rural life for many years. In 2015 they moved to Waxahachie to be a little closer to family and a larger city.

Tom loved the outdoors. He would spend time on their ranch in Hamilton, fishing, hiking, looking for fossils, interesting rocks, and arrowheads. He loved telling the story about finding a dinosaur footprint in a rock near the creek.

At holidays, Tom always brought things from his land for the kids. He loved seeing their faces showing them rattlesnake rattles, geodes he’d found and talking about his adventures on the ranch with the numerous critters that were always around.

Along with time spent on the ranch, Tom was a very intuitive investor. Holidays were spent with many family members crowded around him listening to his thoughts on stocks and investments. With his success in the stock market, everyone was eager to hear what had recently caught his eye. From watching investment analysts talking about the latest trends on tv, to reading his favorite paper, the Wall Street Journal, investing was one of the things he really loved spending his time on.

One of the most wonderful things about Tom was seeing his love and devotion for his wife Linda. It was beautiful to see. The way he would look at Linda, deeply into her eyes showed just how devoted he was to her. It was always Tom and Linda against the world, facing everything together.

Following his stroke in 2022, Tom never once lost his sweetness or gratefulness to others. Whenever anyone helped him with even the smallest of things, he would always say “thank you so much for helping me.” He had the biggest heart, was very kind, and was one of the warmest, giving people around.

Tom will be very much missed by all of his family and friends.

Tom’s Service will be held at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, where he will be buried with military honors. It is located at 2000 Mountain Creek Parkway, Dallas, TX 75211. It will be held on Dec. 1, 2023 at 11:15am. A Celebration of Life will follow at Spring Creek Barbecue, located at 3514 W Airport Fwy, Irving, TX 75062, at 12:30pm.

In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to the charity of your choice.