Thomas Caswell
May 5, 1954 ~ July 15, 2022
Thomas Caswell age 68 of Nashua, IA died Friday, July 15, 2022, at the Iowa City VA Hospital.
Friends may greet the family from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Friday, July 22, 2022, at the Hugeback-Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory – Olson Chapel in Nashua. Military graveside rites will follow at Greenwood Cemetery in Nashua.
Thomas Todd Caswell was born May 5, 1954, in Charles City, IA, the son of Harland and Mildred (Dietz) Caswell. Tom graduated from Nashua High School in 1972 and joined the U.S. Air Force.
Tom proudly served his country and after receiving his honorable discharge, he returned to Nashua. He met and married Angela (Angie) Meyer on June 18th, 1983 and the couple settled in Nashua. Angie passed away in 1986.
Survivors include a son, Travis Caswell of Charles City; a daughter, Chelsea Wilson of San Diego, CA; three grandchildren, Shaylyn Caswell, Austin Caswell, Christian Wilson; two brothers, Timothy (Sharon) Caswell, Mark Caswell; two sisters, Eleanor Scharnhorst, Patricia Thompson, mother-in-law Mary Lu Meyer, sisters-in-law Bonnie Katz & Barbara Graeser, brother-in-law Alan Meyer; many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, wife, brother Harland Grant (Mike) Caswell, Jr., father-in-law Dale Meyer, and brother-in-law Marvin Scharnhorst.
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So sorry Travis. If there’s anything you need, call us.
So sorry to hear! He was always so kind to me and everytime he’d visit me at Mark’s as a child, I’d get a tootsie roll piggy bank. Thoughts are with you, Travis!
I worked with your dad a very long time ago. He and I went to auctions together and he introduced me to the quiltmakers in the mennonite area. He was a great man and my husband and I had a great time going on day trips with him.
Sending our prayers to his family. Jeanne and David Roder
Tom was a great friend and coworker. Lots of fun memories from our time working together at Sara Lee. RIP Tommy 🙏
Sympathy to the Family 🙏❤️🙏
Peace be to the family of Tom Caswell.
Prayers for the family. Arvan and Eileen Haase
So for your loss. Prayers for you and your family. My condolences 🙏
Sympathy–prayers for family and friends!!!
Mark and family of Tom: My heartfelt sympathy in the loss of your brother. Peace and Comfort, Karilyn Naeve Claude
Tom was a very dear friend to my brother, Dan Pattschull. More like a brother than a friend really. They loved music and a good party. They’d give you the shirt off their backs. They were completely loyal to their circle of friends. Years ago at one of Tom’s parties a fella was pursuing me relentlessly so to get free of him I told him I was Tom’s girlfriend. Before I got a chance to tell Tom I had used him the guy went up and told Tom I said I was his girlfriend. Okay, so Tom’s real girlfriend was there with him. Oh, oh…that started something right there now didn’t it!!! I don’t think Tom ever did forgive me for that one.
I went to the Nitty Gritty Dirt band concert at the Winneshiek County Fair with a dear friend of Tom’s and mine Friday in honor of Tom and Dan. Saved them empty seats. Mr. Bo Jangles and Fishin In The Dark….they loved it!!!
The most important thing I have to say about Tom though is that I know for a fact that he is in Heaven in Orientation right now with Jesus. The Lord has made a promise to every believer…”Because you believe, you and your entire household will be saved.” God’s definition of household includes a believer’s realm of contact. I’m a believer. Tom is in my realm of contact. God chose Tom on my behalf. He caused Tom to cry out to Him. It is written. It is spoken. It is finished. It is so. I walk by faith and not by sight. I don’t know exactly how or when but I believe God did what He said He would do. Tom has transferred into God’s Kingdom of eternal Light. Tom will be in Orientation until he is completely heart happy and that makes me very heart happy!!!!
As Sandy Pattschull (the 1st), said, Tom and his circle of friends were completely loyal to each other and I, as Dan’s wife then, and now with new husband, Tyrone, am honored to have been a part of that circle and a part of Tom’s life.
Tom was the organizer, or should I say instigator. If there was nothing going on, Tom would see to it that there was. He’d get ahold of everybody, make them promise to hold up their end of the “party in progress”, whether it be a canoe trip, concert, birthday party, or picnic, and would even call everyone involved in the shenanigans, the night before to make sure everything and everyone was in place, had everything needed, and that no one was out partying so as not to screw up our early take off plans!
One of my favorite memories that always comes to mind was when Tom decided a bunch of us should rent a rolling camper and head up to Lake Pepin in Minnesota for a weekend of fishing and of course drinking.
Just as Tom had arranged, we were all at the Pattschull household at the designated time and were ready to roll. Dan, the predesignated driver till we arrived, tooted the horn, we all whooped and hollered as the Rollin Camper rolled down the driveway and onto the highway!
We were all havin a blast, but as the trip went on and on and the excitement was dwindling, someone who was sitting at the table, which was a map of the United States, started studying said map, and said, “Hey Pattschull! Which Lake Pepin are WE going to??”
After a quick pullover to regroup, it was discovered that we had gone about 100 miles out of our way, we were heading to the wrong Lake Pepin!!!! Who knew!! Guess our organizer missed that little detail! Not to be detoured, a U-turn was made and off we were again on our way to Lake Pepin for a fun weekend of fishing and hooligans!
It was after dark when we arrived at the correct campground, so we didn’t see the RR tracks behind the two cabins we’d rented for the weekend. We were all sitting in a circle in the biggest one, sleepy, and discussing who was going to be sleeping in which cabin or the RV, and trying to figure out what the sign in the bathroom ,”BEWARE OF THE TRAIN, THE TRAIN….”, meant, when all of a sudden the cabin shook violently, and there was a deafening roar as “THE TRAIN” whizzed by at about 500 MPH, missing our cabin by mere inches! Everyone’s eyes were wide open, mouths agape, all of us glued to our seats…except Tom, who’d gone from a slouched sleeping position, to a 4 foot springing jump that landed him in the middle of our circle in about 1/4 of a second flat! His arms were extended and he was in a position to run, but clearly, as his face showed, he had no idea where to or from what!!
It took us all a few minutes to recover, but it gave each of us enough time to see everybody else’s face and that we all looked the same as Tom, but that none of us apparently had his agility!
We all laughed so hard we had tears running down our faces, all but Tom who really didn’t think it was all that funny. Now we knew what the sign, “Beware of the Train” sign meant, and as we all settled into our assigned places to get some shut eye, here came the train, the train again…and again…
As frightening as the train was all weekend, and our host waking us each morning with his shotgun, shooting rattle snakes that had slithered into the camp, what stood out the most and amazed us all, was how fast and how high Tom could jump!
Bring us a round Norm!!!
Sandy (Pattschull the 2nd) Foster (copyright)
My husband hasn’t known Tom for very long, but it didn’t take him long to realize the kind of person he was, and that like himself, would give anyone who needed it, the shirt off his back.
I had come back into contact with old friends at Dan’s celebration of life, and wanted my husband, Tyrone to meet some of them. Tom wanted to meet him, but decided he’d feel more comfortable about it if someone who already knew Tyrone, came with him. Enter Curt who’d worked side by side with Tyrone at a well known RV factory. Well, I don’t know if what they did could actually be called work, you see I worked above the two of them on the mezzanine and the talking and giggling would get so loud that I would go to the overhang and yell down at the two of them to get to work down there, which of course, fell on deaf ears!
So here Tyrone and I sat in our living room awaiting the arrival of Curt and Tom. We saw Curt sprinting up to the house while Tom parked the car. Curt flew into the front door, slammed the front door, and was giving Tyrone a bearhug and saying, “Hey big guy! How you been? I haven’t seen you in like forever!” (Yeah, I was the one who has known Curt for Years and Years, and no “Hi Sandy”, to me!) As them two yacked on and on to each other, I heard a little tap on the front door. Since my, ” one of you want to let Tom in?” went unheard, I opened the door. I let Tom in and said, “Don’t mind them two. They haven’t seen each other in years. They’re catching up.” I’ll never forget Tom saying, ” Geez, I turned the block and Curt’s yelling, “There it is! There it is!”, had the car door open and was running up to the house before I even had the car parked!” To which I replied,” Yeah and he comes into the house and slams the door in your face, the one who was coming to meet Tyrone in the first place!”
Curt said a quick “sorry” and continued to catch up on old times with his good buddy, Tyrone.”
Tom looked a little flabbergasted and I just said, “Don’t mind them two, they love each other, they always do this. If you want to get a word in, you just have to talk real loud so they realize they aren’t the only ones in the room and shut up long enough for someone else to talk.” To which even they agreed and we all laughed to. While I still had the floor, I introduced Tom and Tyrone.
We continued to see Tom and keep in touch, and we are both so grateful that we had at least that amount of time for Tyrone to get to know the good person that Tom was and for me to reinforce that Tom was still the person and friend that I always respected. He will be missed so much!
RIP Tom, and Don’t make God have to stop the car and tell you and Dan to Quiet Down!
Sandy and Tyrone Foster
Tim,
A special Thank You for always being there for your little brother, Tom. He had a great respect for you, as did alot of us. Thank you!