Mondeau, Tom (1940-2022)

MONDEAU, WARNER, CARSTENS

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 8/22/2022 at 08:03:29

Tom Mondeau, age 82, passed away at home, August 10, 2022.

Please join the family for a celebration of his life on Saturday, September 17, 2022, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. at Memorial Services of Iowa (4208 N. Ankeny Blvd.) There will be a time of sharing at 4:00 p.m.

Tom was born in Cloquet, Minnesota to Louis Milton & Mary Ellen. He was a graduate of Cloquet High School ’59 and a veteran of the US National Guard. He married Patricia Jean Murphy, of Duluth, in June of 1968. Tom and Pat established their home in the Upper Westend Hillside of Duluth, MN where they raised their two girls, Brenda and Kay. Upon retirement, the couple moved south to Ankeny, IA to enjoy a closeness to Kay and her family.

Tom worked as a salesman for Kraft Foods, manager at the Hickory Farms store at Miller Hill and finally a pressman for Georgia Pacific (Superwood), but his passion was always wood work. Carpentry was a skill passed to him by his father, but in most respects, Tom was a self -taught student of the craft, consuming instructive publications and studying other’s work to develop his own approaches, as all artisans do. Tom planned, built and collaborated in countless home improvements, but his real joy was creating custom furniture pieces and even smaller vignette pieces that are now heirlooms in so many homes of family and close friends.

In life, when not ‘making sawdust’, Tom enjoyed good card games and family get togethers, competitive bowling, riding his moped around town, photography, the occasional getaway to a beautiful Northland lake to fish or maybe water ski, family road trips to anywhere, or just swinging on the front porch with his pocket knife and a wedge of cheese.

In retirement, Tom and Pat enjoyed family, travel, competitive bags, feeding a myriad of lucky critters off their patio, a small circle of close friends and hosting extended family that came through their ‘neck of the woods’.

Tom is survived by his wife, Patricia; two daughters, Brenda (Darrell) Warner and Kay (Jeff) Christensen; one granddaughter, Alexis Mortorelli; sister, Betty Ann (Wilard) Carstens; and a large extended family of nieces, nephews and cousins. He is preceded in death by his parents, Louis Milton and Mary Ellen; brother, Bernard (Carmen Juárez); and sister, Marion (Leo) Fogarty.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Caring Hands of Altoona through their website: https://www.caringhandsiowa.org/give-help , an organization Tom and Pat donated to regularly and who’s mission they deeply believed in.