Thomas Kane Obituary

My original post about Tom brought back such pleasurable memories of Tom for me....things like his eyes when he laughed and his intensity when he listened. He was an amazing person who I will always remember with a smile. My best regards to his family at the anniversary time of remeberance.

Cindy (Poirier) Ball

I feel privleged to have called Tom my cousin. I will miss him dearly.

"The sky has one more star in it."

I met Tom like so many others in Olson Hall at WIU. I remember when I met him, my first thought was this guy is way too serious, but then as our friendship grew, I found Tom had a little devilish streak in him! I remember one night at the dorm spending an hour trying to talk Tom into going to "bucket night" at Hogsbreath Saloon. He finally said yes and off we went with our buckets. We had one bucket of beer and Tom said, "OK, time to go." Of course I responded with "what do you mean it's time to go? We just got here!" He said, "I told you I'd go out for a bucket and now the bucket is empty -time to go back to the dorm." I'm not quite sure of the outcome of that being 20 something years ago, but I seem to recall Tom going back to Olson Hall and I probably stayed and had a few more buckets!

I lost touch with Tom and so many others once we all left Western and didn't see him until 2 years ago at a WIU Homecoming. I recognized him right away at the Alumni House - the man didn't change in 20 years!

I'm thankful I went to Homecoming that year - it was great seeing him and catching up.

Tom - Thanks for growing up with me at Western, being a part of my life and for all the memories.

I'VE LOST A FRIEND; THE WORLD IS A SADDER PLACE.

I am so sad to hear about Tom. Tom was one of my best friends in college. It wasn't a Friday or Saturday night worth anything if I wasn't out with Tom, Jim, Chester and "The Count". My nickname was "The Doctor" because of a Halloween costume in 1977. That was around the time I met Tom.



Even though we may not keep in close touch in these years that fly by, he will always be an important part of my history and was a friend that even if we didn't talk for a couple of years, when we did, we could pick up like we just saw each other yesterday. One thing that alway struck me about Tom was how when you talked to him--he REALLY listened. He would look you right in the eye and care and pay attention. He had a way of always getting to the heart of the matter.



I remember his laugh too. He was kind of reserved, but when he'd laugh, his whole face lit up. You noticed his laugh.



I will always remember Tom and miss him. My thoughts and prayers are with the whole Kane family. I can only imagine how difficult this must be for them.



In Sympathy,



Cindy (Poirier) Ball