Thomas Joseph Padden Jr.'s Obituary
In Memory of
Thomas Joseph Padden, Jr.
April 28, 1924 – December 31, 2015
Dr. Thomas Joseph Padden, Jr., Commander, USN (retired) passed away peacefully on December 31, 2015 in Clearwater, FL at the age of 91. He was born in Etna, PA to Thomas J Padden, Sr. and Margaret Watkins Padden on April 28, 1924. He spent most of his childhood in and around Pittsburgh, PA. After graduating from St. Frances de Sales High School he was awarded a scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a BS in Civil Engineering. Following his college graduation he was commissioned in the Navy on June 6, 1944 (D-Day) and served in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during WWII with the Seabees. He was a veteran of both WWII and the Korean War.
He met and married Catharine Moran in 1948 in Berwyn, Pennsylvania while completing his MSCE degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. During his Navy career he traveled the world with duty stations in Maryland, California, Michigan, Alabama, Morocco North Africa, Washington, D.C., Florida, Rhode Island, and London, England. He retired from the service in 1967 with the rank of Commander. After retiring from the service he attended the University of Texas at Austin and earned his PhD in Environmental Health Engineering. Dr. Padden worked for the EPA in Washington, D.C., then the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in Trinidad, West Indies and provided environmental engineering support to about ten other Caribbean Island Countries. In 1983 he retired for the second time from the government (his first retirement was from the Navy 16 years earlier).
Following a year of travelling with Catharine around the globe, he joined the faculty of the University of Central Florida in Orlando. He taught courses at UCF for two years and then made the decision to retire for the third and last time in 1986. They lived in Casselberry until 1998 and then moved to Dunedin where he enjoyed his retirement years. His last eight months were happily spent living with his youngest daughter and her husband, Margaret and Jim Fagan, in Oldsmar, Florida.
Thomas was predeceased by his loving wife of 63 years Catharine in 2011. He is survived by his five children Cathleen, Thomas, Brian, Sheila, and Margaret and his 18 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren. His family and friends will miss him dearly, but have a lifetime of wonderful memories to cherish. He was a great husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, friend, mentor, and role model for all who knew and loved him. He will always be remembered for his unwavering devotion to God, his family and his country. We were truly blessed to have him in our lives for 91wonderful years.
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