Thomas Harold Flanagan Jr., currently residing in Tucson, Arizona, formerly a long-time resident of Bensenville, IL, was born on November 17, 1941 in New York City, died in Tucson on May 11, 2007 after his battle with cancer. He was 65. Tom is survived by his loving wife Veronica; daughter, Karen Flanagan George, son Thomas (Laurie) Flanagan III and daughter Kelly (Michael) Gregg and preceded in death by his son Sean Joseph Flanagan, who passed away too soon on October 29, 2003, but who has been reunited with his Dad now; Tom was the best grandpa to four grandchildren Brett, Trevor, Christopher and Rachel. They all have loving, wonderful memories with grandpa; he is also survived by brothers John Ryan, Mike Ryan, sisters Kathy Ryan and Noreen Cocron, as well as first cousins Ethel and Bill Nelson. He is also survived by his beloved dog Duff. Tom was retired from American Airlines in 1996 after 36 years. While working for AA he was Chief Union Steward for Local 512, a paid-on-call firemen in Bensenville for 10 years, drove a school bus for many years, played Santa Claus often, was friends with many policemen and firemen and traveled frequently with his family and friends. He was also a member of the Air Force and the Air Forces Reserve. Tom grew up in New York, living in Queens. He transferred to Illinois with the airlines in 1971, where he and his family resided until 2001, when Tom and Ronnie moved to Tucson and enjoyed a multitude of friends, family, loved ones from all over the world. Tom’s house was everyone’s house, all were welcome at any time. He enjoyed his travels all over the world and made friends with everyone he came in contact with. Many of his closest friend were in Northern Ireland, Australia and the Philippines, as well as New York, Oklahoma, Florida, Arizona and of course Illinois. The closest friend of all to Tom was his wife Ronnie; they were best friends to the end, married 46 wonderful years. He will be fondly thought of an missed very much by people all over the world. Visitation will be Thursday, form 3 to 9 p.m. with prayer service at 7:30 p.m. at The Oaks Funeral Home, 1201 E. Irving Park Road (at Prospect), Itasca. Interment private. In lieu of flowers memorials can be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation www.jdfr.org. For funeral info: 630-250-8588.
