Thomas Alan Hurst passed away Saturday, April 17, 2021 in his home surrounded by his loving family. Tom was born June 28, 1948 to Dallas T. and Marie P. (Boman) Hurst and was the youngest of five.
On October 24, 1970, he married Suzanne M. Rhoades. He met Sue at a dance in Bronson in April of 1970 and one night of dancing, he knew she was his girl. It took six short months for Tom to make Sue his forever girl and they have been happily married for 50 years. Tom graduated from Reading High School in 1966 and has always been a devout Ranger fan. One of his many joys was being a member of the chain gang for Friday night football games at Barre Field for over 30 years. He especially loved the games that his grandson, Devon, played in. Being on the sidelines working the game and watching his boy run was a great source of pride.
He loved working on the farm where he was raised and helped run the farm with his father until he went to work at Hillsdale Tool as a press operator and worked his way up to the quality department. He spent nearly 40 years at Hillsdale Tool, where lunch breaks were spent with friends and fast paced Euchre games.
He was a man who took pride in his town, and served his community in many different ways. He was a member of the Reading Fire Department and served as chief for many years. Tom volunteered as a T-ball coach and a girls softball coach for the summer RYBSA. He spent many years devoting his summer to enriching the lives of the girls he coached and he was instrumental in helping work the ground and complete the girls softball diamond when Reading High School started the girls softball program in 1986.
He had many passions in life, including watching whatever Ranger sport was in action, wood working, his beloved John Deere tractors and sign collection, antiquing with his wife, his Lionel trains, gossiping with his coffee buddies at Ray’s and going to tractor shows. He loved taking his granddaughter, Abby, to the tractor shows and was thrilled that she had the ‘tractor bug’ and that she loved to walk around the old equipment and could spend hours rummaging through flea market items.
Tom is survived by his loving wife, Suzanne Hurst of Reading; daughter Kimberly (Todd) Reppert of Reading; grandchildren, Devon (Sandy) Reppert of Jackson, Abby Reppert of Reading and his great grandson, Grayson Reppert of Jackson. He is also survived by his sisters, Maxine (Dean) Scoville of Hillsdale and Karen (Fred) Johnson of Quincy. He was preceded in death by his parents, Dallas and Marie Hurst, brothers, Marvin and Dean Hurst.
A visitation for Thomas A. Hurst will be held on Friday, April 23, 2021 from 2-4 PM and 6-8 PM at the Eagle Funeral Home-George White Chapel in Reading with Reverend Alan Fenstermaker officiating. Face coverings and social distancing are required.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations/memorials be made to the Reading High School Industrial Arts Program in honor of Tom’s love of wood working.
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