Thomas Albert Gribble

Date of birth  - December 14, 1933

Date of death  - November 20, 2023

Thomas Albert Gribble died peacefully at home in Blue Ridge, Texas, with Emily asleep beside him, on November 20, 2023, age 89, after many years of adventures and good health followed by a period of gradual decline. He enjoyed receiving visitors and sharing stories with them up until his last week of life. Tom and Emily owned and operated Crossroads Hardware in Leonard, Texas, for over twenty years, until retiring in 2018; their daughter Sheryl Gribble took the store over then.

Thomas Albert Gribble was born December 14, 1933, at home in Clackamas, Oregon, and grew up dairying in Molalla, OR, with his parents, Iness Lorena Knox Gribble and Andrew Woodford Gribble, Sr, and 3 older siblings (Andy, Jr. born 1924; Marilyn Joy (Joy, Sis), 1926; and Donald Joseph (Joe), 1930). He graduated from Molalla High School in 1951 and enlisted in the US Marine Corps in 1953, training as an aerial navigator and seeing much of the US and Puerto Rico. He mustered out in spring, 1955, and married Emily Hannah Freeman, MHS ’55, on November 13, 1955 at Smyrna Church in Canby, OR.

Their first child, Lori, was born in Silverton, OR in August, 1956. In 1957, the family moved to Houston, TX, and daughters Cathy and Sheryl were born native Texans. Tom never lived in Oregon again, but returned often to visit family and friends, and to share his Oregon experiences and make new Oregon memories with Emily and his children.

Using his GI Bill education benefits, Tom earned his Bachelor of Business degree after seven years of night school at the University of Houston. He was an insurance underwriter for several years in Houston and Dallas, TX. Tom then left corporate life and joined his brother Joe, who had founded a small company in Santa Rosa, California, to design and build dairies and livestock handling facilities.

The family lived in Santa Rosa from 1965-1971, when the company and Tom’s family moved to Paris, TX. After leaving his brother’s company in about 1976, Tom and Emily had a variety of work experiences. Lori counts that Tom and Emily moved 13 times after she left home for college in 1974 until they settled in Blue Ridge, TX, in 1994. A sampling: Tom and Emily built and ran a small dairy in Bogata, TX, learning that dairying was even harder in one’s middle age than it had been in their early 20’s. In California Tom was the financial officer or trouble-shooter for companies ranging from a helicopter parts supplier to a start-up winery. He sold furniture at a Dallas mall. Tom completed his Master of Business Administration from East Texas State University at Commerce, now Texas A&M Commerce. With that qualification, he taught college courses in business and finance in northeast Texas. He and Emily were owner-operators for a series of bookkeeping businesses in northeast Texas. Their last bookkeeping and tax preparation business was in Leonard, TX, which is where Tom found and bought Crossroads Hardware, which became his longest and most satisfying business venture.

Tom is survived by Emily, his wife of 68 years; and their three daughters: Lorena (Steve) Charbonneau of Tucson, Arizona, and Cathy Gribble Ries and Sheryl Ann Gribble, both of Blue Ridge, Texas. At the time of his passing, Tom was also survived by five grandchildren: Thomas Pledger (Wendy) serving with the US Army in Germany; Lin Grimm of Tucson, Arizona; Aaron (Claire) Ries of Houston, TX; Robert Ries of Blue Ridge, TX; and Daniel Ries of Allen, TX; six great-grandchildren; and eleven nieces and nephews. He is also survived by one sister-in-law, Joann Gribble of Paris, TX, who is Emily’s sister and the widow of Tom’s brother Joe. Tom was predeceased by his parents, siblings, a niece and a nephew.

Tom’s cremains will be interred at the historic Gribble Pioneer Cemetery in Canby, OR, where his father, stepmother and siblings rest, on Saturday, August 3, 2024. It is just a few miles from the family home of his youth and early adulthood, and near the church where he and Emily were married.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations in remembrance of Tom. He believed that the USMC and the GI Bill were two strong contributors to opening the doors to life opportunities for him that adolescent Tom had no idea even existed. He especially wanted all young people to have healthy, plentiful food; access to a good education in the field of their choice, whether trades or academics; and opportunities to contribute to society to the best of their abilities and interests. Please consider contributing to your favorite charity that furthers those goals.