Thomas Alan Walsh was born on July 10th, 1934, during the Great Depression and passed away on December 15th, 2024, at his home in Rochester, surrounded by family.

Tom grew up on Northern Minnesota's Iron Range in Chisholm, MN. The house Tom grew up in was in what was known as "Monroe location", a short distance from Chisholm. At night one could hear the 20-ton Euclid trucks rumble as they went about the business of extracting iron ore from an open pit mine as they edged closer and closer to the houses. "Monroe" consisted of about forty houses on three streets all owned by the Oliver Iron Mining Co and could at any time be moved by the mining company. It was a wonderful place to grow up. The area was blessed with fields for sports, hockey rinks, a park, a small grocery, and a short bike ride to town. Time came when the Oliver Co wanted the iron ore under the Walsh family home. A reasonable offer was made and accepted. The house was then moved into town. Tom's Dad was in the hospital at the time, so 8th grader Tom oversaw all that was required for a successful move and construction of a garage for his parents.

Tom loved books, every kind of music, and participating in all sports. His lifelong love of sports started early as evidenced by Tom and his friends winning the Chisholm 6th grade basketball championship followed by many more championships in his life. His other favorite sport was tennis, which he played all his life beginning in middle school. While attending Hibbing Junior College he and a lifelong friend won the Northern Junior College Tennis Doubles Championship. He was an avid golfer until he required spinal surgery which slowed him down. Tom graduated from Chisholm High School, Hibbing Junior College, and received a BA from University of Minnesota Duluth. Years later he earned a master's degree in professional development from Winona State College Rochester Campus. After earning an undergraduate degree in 1956, Tom enlisted in the Navy. Most of his Navy tour was served as an officer in Bermuda and Eleuthera, Bahamas and involved anti-submarine detection. After four years in the Navy, Tom began using his BA degree working in Production Control at Minneapolis Honeywell. He came to Rochester, MN as Plant Manager for Frederick Willys Manufacturing (Zumco) which made pool tables and table tennis. He left that position to open several retail stores in the "brand new" (at the time) Apache Mall. Tom entered real estate sales in 1976, was a partner in bringing RE/MAX to Rochester and later joined Elcor Realty where he worked until retirement.

He is preceded in death by his parents, five siblings, and a grandson. He is survived by his wife and best friend Sheila Sibley Walsh; his two daughters Kathy (Mark) Blohm of Rochester and Jill (Chris) O'Neil of Fort Lauderdale, FL; his sons Michael (Jennifer) Walsh of Rochester and Cole Walsh of Eagan; seven grandchildren and three great grandsons.

The Memorial Service for Tom will be held on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 11:00AM in the River Park Chapel at Macken Funeral Home. Visitation will begin one hour prior to the service, in the chapel. Burial of ashes will be at the Preston, MN State Veteran's Cemetery at a later date.

Online condolences are welcome at www.mackenfuneralhome.com