January 14, 1942 – March 9, 2025
Thomas Arthur Hirt
Thomas (Tom) Arthur Hirt, beloved Husband, Father, Papa, Brother and Friend, was born on January 14, 1942 to Arthur and Mary Hirt in Strongsville, Ohio. He was the first of three children, to be followed by his brother Paul and sister Ruth (Held).
Tom graduated from Strongsville High School with honors. He did so well in school that he feared he would be valedictorian and have to give the graduation speech. To avoid this, he purposely did poorly in a health or PE class to bring his GPA down. He played ice hockey until the football team started playing, then he decided, with his slim frame, it was too dangerous so he quit.
Tom studied engineering at The Ohio State University, where he was a member of the Chi Phi fraternity. There, he met Rebecca, his wife of 58 years. They married in Columbus, Ohio on July 2, 1966, then moved to Seattle, where Tom obtained a Masters in Engineering at Seattle University and worked at Boeing. Their first child, Deborah was born in 1969. Soon after, he was one of the many employees laid off from Boeing, and he joined the exodus from Seattle as he moved his family back to Ohio, where they lived in Valley City while he worked at Hirt’s Wholesale Greenhouse. For a while, they talked about becoming walnut farmers.
But then both Boeing and its competitor McDonald Douglas were hiring again and both companies offered him a job. Tom and Rebecca decided they liked the mountains and sea in Seattle, so they moved back in 1972, after their second child, Katherine was born. They found their house in Kirkland, Washington, where their third child, Craig was born in 1977 and where they lived for over 51 years.
Tom was drawn to the mountains surrounding Seattle and he took his family on numerous hikes and joined his friends at Boeing on many backpacking trips. Later in life, he discovered cross country skiing and snowshoeing. The year he turned 50, he climbed to the tops of 50 separate mountain peaks. He did this by sometimes doing three in one day during the longer summer days when he could get to the trailhead very early and hike very late, teaching his children the truth behind his phrase “we’re partway there.”
Tom was an avid reader, a gardener, and a constant comedian. He was known for his singular wit and dry sense of humor. At a formal dinner he would break any tension by putting napkin rings on his ears and in a conversation about fine food he would interject about his love for Cheese whiz (which he really did not eat). Tom loved to recite poems with his kids and applied literary references to daily life, from repairing walls or driving in the fog to regular repairs on his classic ’67 Mustang. Along with poetry and English literature from the 1800s, Tom also loved art, history, and music.
Tom was preceded in death by his parents and brother. He is survived by his wife Rebecca, daughters Deborah (Bruce) Lajiness and Katherine Hirt, son Craig (Tracey) Hirt, 5 Grandchildren: Angeline and Isabelle Lajiness; Emmeline Hirt; Edwin and Grace St. John, his sister Ruth (Peter) Held, 3 nephews, 4 nieces, many cousins, and more friends than one can count.
Tom’s family is very thankful to Crystal Shanks for the care she provided Tom over the last two years, and the teams at Aegis Living Kirkland and EvergreenHealth Hospice Care for the care he received in his final weeks.
Memorial Services for Tom will be 2:00PM June 28th at Lake Washington United Methodist Church 7525 132nd Ave NE, Kirkland followed by a memorial hike on June 29, time and place to be announced at a later date.
The post first appeared on Barton Family Funeral Service.