Thomas Kent Waitzfelder was born on Oct 16, 1945 in Fairbanks, Alaska. His father was a U.S. Coast Guard officer stationed in Juneau, Alaska, where Tom?s sister Gayle Lynn was born in October of 1953, followed by Beth Eileen in February of 1955. Shortly after Beth?s arrival, the family relocated to Long Island, New York. It was there that Tom graduated from Freeport Senior High School in June of 1964. He attended Yankton College in Yankton, SD. He was still in touch with many friends and former roommates from those years. He married Sandra Kay Bosworth in May of 1967, and their daughter Kari was born in November of 1967. Tom was widowed in December of the same year after a car accident. Upon graduating in 1968 with degrees in Biology, Chemistry and Philosophy, Tom worked as a chemist for Woodard Research Corp in Herndon, VA. After several job changes, including a brief sojourn to Santa Barbara, CA, he started graduate school at the University of South Dakota at Vermillion in 1971. In 1972 he married Cheryl J. Hollesen and her daughter Darla. In April of 1973 he left school and worked as a chemist until enlisting in the Army in August of 1975. He served until July 1981 as a Unit Supply Spec and then a Programmer/Analyst ? enter computers! Tom married Karen Sly Burdick on April 2, 1982 and they purchased their first home in Vallejo, CA, in August of 1984. In addition to taking on the demands of home ownership and a new family, he and Karen attended classes at City College of San Francisco and then San Francisco State University. After several different jobs, he went to work for Oracle Corp in the main office in San Francisco as an After Sales Troubleshooter. Tom led training classes while at Oracle, and found teaching to be something that he both enjoyed immensely and at which he excelled. After Oracle Tom worked for Quadrex Computer Systems, a Nuclear Engineering firm in San Jose, CA, mostly telecommuting. In August of 1990 he started working as a programmer for Bechtel in San Francisco and was offered a transfer to the Savannah River Site. After accepting the transfer in March of 1993, Tom and Karen purchased an old farmhouse in Williston, SC. Tom loved living and working in South Carolina. Tom?s interests were varied and extensive. He read voraciously, both fiction and nonfiction. Of particular interest were books about language and history. His move to the South sparked an interest in the Civil War. Tom enjoyed crafting with his hands, he was a gifted woodworker and had recently taken up oil painting and jewelry making. In San Francisco he joined the public speaking organization Toastmasters International, an interest he took with him to the South. He joined Augusta, Georgia?s Riverwalk Toastmasters, achieving several levels of public speaking proficiency and serving as officer in a variety of club and area positions. Tom was predeceased by his father, Stanley L. Waitzfelder and son, Donald James Burdick. He is survived by his wife Karen of Williston; daughters Sherry Sly of San Francisco and Darla William Chambers of Hawaii; mother, Gayle G. Waitzfelder of Netcong, NJ; sisters Gayle L. Waitzfelder of Netcong, NJ and Beth Waitzfelder of Hawaii; grandchildren Ian, Kaleigh, Zoe and Phoebe Chambers, and a number of cousins, in-laws and good friends. In lieu of flowers, we request donations be made to the Savannah River Cancer Foundation, which assists elderly and low income cancer patients by providing transportation and financial assistance for medical costs during treatment. The address is P.O. Box 869, Aiken, SC 29802.