WORCESTER-Arthur T. “Tom” Scanlon, Jr., 81, of Worcester passed away Tuesday, February 3rd at Saint Vincent Hospital.
He leaves his wife of 45 years, Sandra J. (Burdett) Scanlon; his children, Drew P. Scanlon and Sonia L. Scanlon, both of Worcester, Morna Larson and Arthur T. Scanlon, III, both of Millbury; his grandchildren, Danica S. Scanlon, Calista M. Scanlon, Jemma R. Scanlon-Brousseau, Jade J. Scanlon-Brousseau, Andrew P. Scanlon, Amanda J. Larson, Arthur T. Scanlon, IV and one great grandchild, Avi. He was predeceased by his son, David R. Nelson-Scanlon and his sister, Janet M. Haddad. He also leaves behind his special companion, Middy (his dog).
Arthur was born in Worcester, the son of Arthur and Margaret (Bonoyer) Scanlon and graduated from North High School and attended Wentworth Institute in Boston. He was a longtime superintendent at Rural Cemetery and upon his retirement, completed a century of service to the cemetery between his father and his time there. He was a member of the National Cemetery Association as well as spending time as a real estate broker, an oil burner technician among other things. He committed a lot of time to the Boy Scouts, Troop 54 as well. One of Tom’s favorite things to do was tinkering. He loved taking things apart and putting them back together. He always preferred to fix it up instead of replacing something, and he was good at it. Another of his favorite things was growing things. He definitely had a green thumb and could easily identify a wide variety of plants and their uses. He was also an avid checker player. Whatever it was he did he committed himself to it. He would dedicate hours teaching others and had patience for the most difficult of challenges to see it through.
A memorial service for Arthur will be held on Saturday, February 14th from11:00am until 2:00 pm in the Kennedy Chapel at Rural Cemetery, 180 Grove St. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Diabetes Association, 120 Speen St., Framingham, MA 01701 www.diabetes.org.