Tom Ross

John Thomas “Tom” Ross of Benton, MO passed away Friday, March 10, 2017, at the age of 81 at St. Francis Medical Center after battling several health issues. He was born on September 15, 1935 in South Dakota to James and Alyce Fallon Ross. His family moved to the Commerce area in 1937, he attended Benton High School.  After serving in the U.S. Army for two years, he met the love of his life, Virginia Seyer while at a dance hall in Ancell. They married on May 4, 1957 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Cape Girardeau.  They were to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in May of this year.

Tom was a member of St. Denis Catholic Church in Benton, MO, where he volunteered for many church activities. He was a maintenance worker for the MODOT. During retirement he owned and operated his own floor cleaning business.  He also enjoyed earning money by “junking” (buying and selling antiques, equipment, and scrap metal). He gave many of his grandchildren their first work experiences when he’d hire them as assistants with his jobs. He enjoyed life and could often be found sitting around a bonfire with family, telling funny stories and truly loved and enjoyed playing with his grandchildren (and singing the Crawdad Hole song to them). He loved gardening, fishing, playing golf and being outdoors. He also enjoyed playing cards & meeting his local friends at The County Seat, he was very generous and kind to everyone and known as a great listener.

Loving survivors include his wife, Virginia Ross of their home; three daughters, Regina Sander of Scott City, Cindy (Tom) Hulshof of Cape Girardeau, Robin Ross of San Diego, California; four sons, Kevin (Sandy) Ross of Jackson, Steve Ross of Scott City, Tim (Georgie) Ross of Benton, Kenny (Donna) Ross of Scopus; 10 grandsons, Brandon, Garrett, Alex, Trevor, Duncan, Cole, Cameron, Devin, Hunter and Nate; three granddaughters, Stephanie, Abby and Sara and two great-granddaughters, Cambrie and Laynie; a brother Bob (Rosemary) Ross of Chaffee, and a sister-in-law, Loretta Ross of St. Louis. He is also survived by a large number of friends, sisters-in law and brothers-in-law, nephews, nieces and other relatives.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Bill Ross; a sister, Joan Schwartz and a son-in-law, Kevin Sander.

Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. on Sunday at the St. Denis Catholic Church in Benton, Missouri. Parish prayer service will be at 7:00 pm.

Funeral Mass will be at 10:00 am on Monday at the church with Rev. Michael Casteel as celebrant.

Burial will be in St. Denis Catholic Cemetery in Benton with full military honors..

Memorials may take the form of contributions to Missouri Right To Life.