Thomas Stewart Easley Jr. died March 7, 2012 at age 70. He was born July 12, 1941 in Nashville Tenn., and graduated in 1959 from Parrish High School in Selma. He served in the U.S. Army from 1959 to 1979 as an Army bandsman. Upon retirement as a master sergeant in 1979, he moved his family to Silverhill, where he began his second career as a personnelist at NAS Pensacola, Fla. After retiring in 1996, he dedicated himself full-time to his love of music, the water, reading, and later his grandkids, whom "Pappa" spoiled. He spent many years picking and grinning with his friends John Galloway and Eddie Keenan as the Wilcox Exit Bluegrass Association, and after they disbanded, still traveled regularly to jam sessions and music festivals. He loved fishing and boating and spent many hours on his beloved Spring Branch and Perdido Bay. He is survived by his wife, Judy Hallberg Easley, Josephine; daughters, Wendy Easley Hamilton of Croughton, United Kingdom and Sandra Easley Jones, Lillian; grandchildren Taylor Stewart Hamilton, Preston Hartwell Hamilton, Talley Ann Hamilton and Aiden Phillip Jones; and his sisters Wanda Fay Butkus, Harrison, Tenn., and Deborah Elaine Smith, Silverhill. The family will have a celebration of his life in May at "The Water House." In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Foley Public Library, which he regularly patronized. Funeral arrangements by Mack Funeral Home, Robertsdale.
