Thomas Roy Reser

Tom Reser (1935 – 2025) was a dreamer, builder, and storyteller. Armed with a pad of graph paper and a pencil, he could design and construct just about anything, from boats to houses, motorhomes, and more. Born in 1935 in the family home on Merwin Avenue in Madisonville, Cincinnati, OH. Tom entered the world mostly blind due to cataracts. With regular teachers serving in World War II, or stateside in war factories, the substitute teachers missed the signs of his sight impairment until second grade. Surgery later gave him sight with glasses and confirmed what he’d already figured out by feel.  As a teenager, he memorized the eye chart and enlisted in the Air Force. Basic training went fine until the chart changed, at which point he was politely offered an honorable discharge. Tom’s working life was as varied as his imagination: he was an aerospace design draftsman, carpenter, paper salesman, farmer, and a business systems developer for schools and hospitals. He never stopped building. He and his sons built small row boats and a 56-foot sailboat. Tom was a funny guy who would yodel when whichever boat he was on would drift under the bridges, as well as when the 56-foot sailboat launched. Local Channel 5 covered the launching and said, "you've got to watch out for guys like Tom Reser." His landbound construction projects included greenhouses, gazebos, and a great and-mighty tractor shed. He and his sons even converted a school bus into a motorhome and drove to Alaska, twice. Tom also painted giant murals, portraits, and landscapes. Some of his paintings were commissioned, and some were for fun. Tom shared his mother’s knack for telling family stories on an eternal loop. Tom was preceded in death by his parents, Gertrude Jane Burge (née Conover) and George Garner Reser; his stepparents, Charles “Buzz” Burge and Nancy Ann Reser (née Ross); his siblings, Onalee (Charles) Hacker, Louis Reser, James Reser, and Carla Jane(Mark) McClung (née Burge); and his daughter-in-law, Linda (Mark) Reser. Tom is survived by his wife of 65 years, Juanita (née Goetz); his sons, Mark Reser, Jeff (Marta) Reser, David (Sonia) Reser, and Jason (Kellie) Reser; 14 grandchildren—Benjamin Reser, Dreama Gardner, T.J. Miller, Otto Reser, Ana Reser, Amber Reser, Zachary Reser, Kyle Reser, Steven Reser, Emily Reser, Danielle Needham, Coleman Needham, Max Cochran, and Louis Reser; and 11 great-grandchildren. Tom also leaves behind boats, standing buildings, plus a pile of worldly goods in the tractor shed, all attended by stories that will presumably never die.

In Lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati OH 45229. giving.cincinnatichildrens.org