Thomas Joseph Ryan

Thomas (Tom) Ryan, age 96, died January 14 on Grave Lake in Suomi, MN. It is unknown whether he died from old age or a broken heart. He never got over losing his wife Barb, six years earlier, and losing his oldest son Dennis two months ago was perhaps the last straw. Tom stopped eating over the Christmas holiday, and although he eventually entered hospice, he remained in his Grave Lake home, taking his last breath surrounded by his sons, literally passing in their arms. He is survived by his sons Tom (Dee), Jim, John (Sandy), Paul, Bill (Jennifer), twenty grandchildren, and thirty-one great-grandchildren. Tom is preceded in death by his wife Barb, son Dennis, daughter in law Kathy, parents Daniel and Josephine, brothers Daniel and Robert, and sister-in-law Rosemary.

Tom was born in 1928, the middle child of three boys raised in South Minneapolis by Daniel and Josephine Ryan. His childhood was shaped by significant historical, social, and economic events including the great depression, World War II, and the Korean War. With Minneapolis being a growing urban center, Tom enjoyed riding around the city on electric street cars with his friends, spending a great deal of time at Powderhorn Park and Minnehaha Falls. His father was a railroad man, working for the Milwaukee Road which afforded Tom and his brothers (AKA the Minneapolis Ryans) many opportunities to ride the train to Melrose, Iowa and engage in many a corn cob fight with their cousins on the Ryan farms serving as home base for the Ryan clan who emigrated from Ballyvourney, Ireland.

Tom graduated from Roosevelt Senior High School in 1946. Having been too young to fight in World War II, he was eager to join the United States Marine Corp (USMC) which he did in 1948, rising to the rank of Sergeant during his four years of service. Tom was assigned to the historic 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, where he would fight in the Korean War, receiving a Purple Heart for being shot twice by enemy machine gun fire, on September 3, 1950, during the 2nd Battle of the Nakong Bulge. After recovering in Japan, Tom would later rejoin his unit and would eventually serve as a USMC drill instructor at Parris Island, South Carolina, until his discharge in 1952. The Marine Corp was a big part of Tom’s life which is in keeping with the saying “Once a Marine, always a Marine!”

Having returned from the Korean War, in 1953, Tom would meet the love of his life, Barbara Jean Jensen, and they would soon start a family in North Minneapolis with the birth of their first child, Dennis. They would eventually have six sons in total, moving to the suburbs in Blaine where the family would live for 25 years. Prior to joining the Marine Corps, Tom had already been working for the United States Postal Service (USPS) and that is where he returned after the Korean War, working the next 33 years as a Letter Carrier until his retirement in 1986. He was a proud seventy-plus year member of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), which is the national labor union of city delivery letter carriers employed by the USPS. That is a lot of rain, sleet, and snow, to be sure!

Tom was an avid outdoors person, which was a passion he shared with his family. After seeing a 1958 newspaper advertisement for land in Suomi on Grave Lake, which is about four hours north of Minneapolis, Tom told his father “This is the place for our family.” And sure enough it was, with Tom’s father purchasing land on Grave Lake including a small cabin that was shared among Tom, his brothers, and the next generations. The woods and lake were enjoyed so much by the Ryans that even Barb’s father purchased adjoining land on Grave Lake. Between 1958 and Tom’s retirement in 1986, Grave Lake became a labor of love, with continuous family trips, the planting of thousands of red and white pine trees, the tilling of gardens, the building of community relationships, and enjoyment of nature.

In 1987, Tom and Barb retired to Grave Lake, however their life was anything but a quiet and unassuming retirement. Tom’s passion for water, soil, and wildlife conservation came to life, with Tom being a founding member and first president of the Suomi Area Lakes Association (SALA). And with many neighbors they collectively provided education and lobbying for environmental actions to help preserve the pristine nature of the surrounding area for generations to come, including SALA becoming an important member of the Itasca Coalition of Lake Associations (ICOLA). The effort and impact of Tom, Barb, and so many others in the community are too numerous to mention, however their results are long lasting and evident through the laughter and joy of new generations enjoying the lake.

Grave Lake and the surrounding woods of Suomi, or “God’s Country,” as Tom referred to it, were a central part of his life for sixty-six years and his permanent home for the last thirty-eight. And a Robert Frost poem captures the essence of Tom’s last breath in God’s Country, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, Miles to go before I sleep.” At age 96, Tom had kept all his promises, he had walked many, many miles, and it was finally his time, and his right to sleep. We know Tom’s spirit is in heaven with his wife Barb, his son Dennis, and other loved ones, however some part of Tom Ryan will always be on Grave Lake, and the woods of Suomi because it’s true that in Suomi, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep.”

In lieu of flowers, Tom would have preferred a small donation to the Marine Corp Scholarship Foundation, the nation’s oldest and largest provider of need based scholarships to military children, https://www.mcsf.org/giving-opportunities/, or the Arbor Day Foundation, the world’s largest tree planting non-profit organization. Arbor Day Foundation | Tree Planting Non-Profit

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