Thomas M. Waples

Thomas M. Waples

September 3, 1947 – August 18, 2022

VISITATION: Friday, September 9^th from 5pm to 7pm at the West Center Chapel, followed by VIGIL SERVICE at 7pm.  MEMORIAL MASS: Saturday, September 10^th at 10am at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 2110 S. 32^nd Ave. Memorials are suggested to the family.

To view live broadcasts of the Vigil Service and Mass, please visit www.heafeyheafey.com and click the “View Live Cast” button at the top of the home page.

Tom was born in Omaha, Neb., at Immanuel hospital — though he always assumed he came from Brandeis, given his mother and grandmother’s love of shopping there. He attended St. Cecilia Cathedral’s grade school and high school, and often said he would have continued at Cathedral College, had there been one. After a brief stint at Creighton University, he joined Mutual Protective Insurance, manning the mailroom at 18. The company sent him to ITT for computer programming training, after which he joined the programming team and spent the next 35 years working in computers. He happily retired in 2005, with days consumed by his two favorite things, “nuttiin” and golf.

Tom met Angie in March of 1976, she was leaving on a trip so he gave her his phone number which she threw away. He didn’t give up, their first date was May of 1976. They were engaged in August, and married February 11,1977. They were the love of each other’s lives, Angie the “patent leather” to his “tennis shoe.” They created a warm and wonderful home that was always open to family and friends. They loved to travel, and ceaselessly supported their nieces and nephews in all of their sporting events and activities. A confidant to many, Tom loved a great story and his laugh was contagious.

Tom loved a good red wine, a trait he probably got from his Grandma Waples and her Manischewitz. He enjoyed cigars and the occasional shot of Jameson. He took up cooking in retirement, and you could taste the love he put into everything he made. Tom and Angie loved hosting family and friends for dinners, especially at the holidays. It was the glue that kept everyone together. The Waples and Panes were everything to him — he was a devoted son, husband, beloved brother, brother-in-law, uncle, cousin and friend.

An avid golfer, he had his first hole-in-one in 2009 and won Field Club of Omaha’s Golfer of the Year in 2016. He loved Creighton basketball, UNO hockey, and was a lifelong Cardinals fan, later becoming a Yankees fan after his godson, Dan, joined the staff. Tom and Dan shared a special bond beginning the day Dan was born — having driven Dan’s mother to the hospital for delivery, nurses assumed Tom was the father.

He was preceded in death by his father, Thomas E. Waples; mother, Patricia L. Waples; infant brother, David; in-laws, Joseph and Marian Pane; sister-in-law, Lisa Beeman Pane; brother-in-law, Ed Hover. Survived by wife, Angela; sister, Mary Myers (Tim); brother, Steve Waples (Tammy); brothers- and sisters-in-law: Tony Pane, Jerrie Pane Hover, Mary Jo Pane, Lu Anne Pane, Joe and Micki Pane, and Mark Pane; nieces and nephews: Jill Green (Jack), Brian Myers (Heather), Blake Waples, Rebecca Waples, Matt Hover,(Katie), Erich Hover, Andrew Hover, Joe Pane, Allison Guiney (Drew), Teddy Pane, Alex Stowe (Abby), Adam Pane, Kyle Pane, and Emma Pane; two very special godsons, Dan Pane (Jessica) and Evan Pane;
grand-nephews: Quinn & Cooper Myers, Parker Green, William Hover; grand-nieces: Grace Green, Claire Hover and Mena Guiney. The kids were like his own. As Evan put it, “he was an amazing parental figure and a really good uncle.” He will be greatly missed by all who knew him, a tremendous human being.