Tom was born in Lima, Ohio to John and Catherine (nee Rink) McGue.  In 1948, he graduated from Lima Central High.  A gifted singer, Tom had leads in his school's musicals, and for years continued to sing in the choir at Lima Central Church of Christ.

 

In 1949, he and his Dad founded an asphalt paving business, McGue Construction Company, with his Mom helping out in the office.  Interrupted only by a four-year stint in the Navy, Tom ran the family business until his retirement forty years later.

 

In the Navy, Tom was stationed in Key West, Florida.  On shore leave in Miami Beach, he met the love of his life, Shirley Fisher, of Toronto, Canada, who was staying at the same hotel.  Fortunately for Tom, it was love at first sight, as he only had the weekend.  Their first dance in the hotel bar was to "Sixty-Minute Man" by the Dominos.  They met again a year later at the same hotel, having conducted their long distance love affair almost entirely by letters.  After two visits to Toronto, they married.  Amazingly, they had only been together a total of ten days in their two year courtship.

 

In Lima, Tom and Shirley had a active social life revolving around Springbrook Swim Club and the Elks Lodge.  They spent the last 32 years of their 67 year marriage in retirement in Tucson, Arizona, where Tom enjoyed artistic metal-working.

 

Tom is survived by Shirley and their three children:  David of Las Vegas and his wife Lynn and their daughter Lauren; Kelly Manion of Tucson and her husband Jerry and their daughters Kaitlyn Manion and Lindsey Shackelford; and John of Dublin, Ohio, and his wife Monica and their daughter Anna Segraves and sons Brian and John.  In the last four years, Tom and Shirley were blessed with three great-grandsons, Davis and Daxton Shackelford and Christopher "Tripp" Segraves.

 

Tom was a hard worker, dedicated and persevering, a real detail-man.  There wasn't anything he couldn't build or fix.

 

The following poem was written by granddaughter Kaitlyn Manion:

 

My Opa was a miraculous man

Years he dedicated working with his hands

The real labor for him was love and the strength at his core

His wife was his reason

For fragility and frailty wore down these tremendous bones

Left was a man grown old with his soulmate

His fear from falls didn't doom him

For his heart was too strong to break

His soul still resides

He would look into her eyes and that miracle was what would mend my Opa's weakened body

I know his spirit still soars

He was with her everyday and it gave him all the purpose and pride he needed to survive

Until his brittle end this miraculous man did not go

Not without the fierce fight

His heart was never ready to say goodbye

As he took his last breath he laid beside the love of his life

He let go and the light took him from us

He went to a place of peace beyond this world

Now he lives on in our hearts, for a day won't go by we won't remember the selfless man with remarkable hands and the bravest heart