Page 46 - MNLGA Free State Winter 2025

OBITUARY

Tom Speakman

August 15, 1944 - July 4, 2025

Write Your Story. Own Your Story. Be Proud of Your Story.
I want to start by saying thank you to all of you for taking the time out of your Saturday to be here with
our family. It truly means a lot.

I also want to say that I am not the writer in the family. Nor do I like speaking in front of big crowds, so
please bear with me.
For those of you who may not know me, I am Tom’s son Tommy

If you’ve ever talked to me—or asked my kids about me—they’d probably tell you I’m constantly handing
out some kind of motivational advice or life lessons. I’m sure I drive them a little crazy. When I’m done
giving that advice, I usually say:
Remember….Write your story. Own your story. And most importantly—be proud of your story, it’s yours
to write.
Megan, Will, Ella, and Sariah, as we gather here today, look around this room.

This is your Pop Pop’s story.
It’s written in the faces you see. In the hands he shook, and in the legacy he leaves behind.
Every friend, every family member, every place he lived—these are the chapters of a life lived with pas-
sion and pride. This isn’t a funeral. It’s the turning of a page in a book that he wrote with his own hands.

The first chapter began in Yardley, Pennsylvania. That’s where he grew up and where his story first began
to take shape. It’s where he discovered his lifelong love of the outdoors—hunting, fishing, and eventually,
horticulture. As a kid, he was always outside. And at the age of 14, something clicked. He started growing
mums in #10 cans, and he knew—he just knew—that this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.
From that moment, the dream of owning his own nursery was planted in his heart.
It was also in Yardley where another lifelong love began. Mimi, Mom. As the story goes, she was the new
girl in school and needed help figuring out which bus to take home. Someone told her, “Just follow Tom,
he is on the same bus.” So, she did, right into the boys’ locker room, where he was heading for football

46 WINTER 2025 • Free State News