Birth date: Apr 2, 1952 Death date: Feb 5, 2018
Age 65, Pittsburgh (formerly of Duquesne), after a long battle with illness, Tom passed away surrounded by his loving family on February 5, 2018. Tom is survived by his beloved wife of 35 years, Joanne (Smith) Valco; loving brothe Read Obituary
Tom was an incredible person who I had the pleasure of knowing in our hometown of Duquesne. While I have lots of good memories of Tom, my favorite one was when we saw Simon and Garfunkel perform in Central Park, New York City with a million other people. I worked with Tom, he was very intelligent and kind. Rest in peace!
TOM VALCO
Two 19 year old men. That might be enough to write.
But it isn’t.
Tom Valco was my best friend in college. He was quick witted, quick to smile, and quick to make friends. Tom had a gift that allowed him to walk into any room and, in a very short time, be friends with everyone there. Tall, broad shouldered, baby faced, he charmed all he met.
I took a liking to him immediately. We shared lots of good times.
At 19, one has the body of an adult but the mind of a...shall we be kind and say...less than adult. We were free of parental controls, allowed to make our own decisions, and allowed to make our own mistakes. There certainly were plenty of those. We though we had the whole world at our fingertips. The freedom went to our heads rather irresponsibly, causing bloated self importance and macho egos. We were lucky to get through those years without too much damage. Tom helped with balance.
On top of all this new excitement, Tom had a car! And not just any car, but an Opel GT. I thought I was a big shot every time I got into that car. Imagine having a car and being freshmen in college! It was unbelievable to me. We traveled in that car at least twice to see our families in western Pennsylvania.
In the early ‘70’s my sister married her long time boyfriend. The wedding was in the Fall, and the reception in my hometown of Butler. Perhaps unfortunately, I had just purchased a Honda 450 motorcycle. I invited Tom to join me at the reception. We hopped on the bike and headed west, traveling the nearly 3 hour drive on a sunny, warm day. The roads in Pennsylvania are almost all like ribbons that have fallen to the floor, winding and curving in endless repetition. We traveled those windy roads, and the curves somehow lulled me into a bit of a trance. I failed to negotiate a curve and lost control of the bike. Tom and I headed onto a manicured lawn, drove across the grass, and headed right between two large spruce trees. The trees were the dividing line between the flat lawn and a drop off of about 10 feet. We became airborne immediately, but encountered a guide wire from a telephone pole whilst in the air. Fortunately, the wire hit the back tire and not the front. Tom and I were thrown off the bike into the air. I suppose the guide wire made the bike into a de facto catapult. Our good luck, if that’s what you’d call it, continued, as the 400 pound motorcycle did not land on either of us. Somehow we ended up at a hospital, where we got facial bandages for a couple of cuts. Remarkably, we had no other injuries! We were transported back to the scene of the accident, picked up the bike, bent a few components so they did not rub the tires, and proceeded on.
Almost as soon as we returned to the highway, a horse appeared quite unexpectedly right in the middle of the road. I did not have time to hit the brakes, but I swerved to avoid another accident. Tom said he wanted to be the driver for the rest of the journey. Our good luck continued, and we proceeded on.
We arrived at my parent’s home as the party was in full swing. Tom and I walked into the house with our helmets on. We took them off together. That was not planned. Mom screamed when she saw the bandages on our faces. Thus, my parents got to meet my new best friend, Tom Valco. Mom recalls that day even now, at 90 years old.
I could go on and on with story after story. We had a great little gang of young people who prior to September 1970 did not exist. It was a great support group to have, even though no one had enough life experiences to know that there were certain behaviors that perhaps should not have been supported. Or maybe we did know better, but we just decided to proceed on.
Tom was an important part of my young life. He influenced me in many ways, and helped shape who I am today. I learned the importance of congeniality from him, perhaps his best gift to me. I learned how to laugh so hard my face hurt, as we acted like 19 year old men, or, as some
I'll always remember the wonderful times we shared as college roommates at Penn State. Tom was a wonderful and caring person who added so much to our young lives. His caring attitude and zest for life will always be remembered. My deepest sympathy and prayers go out to his family and all who had the privilege of knowing him.
So many memories in a lifetime of friendship. So sorry to hear about Tommy's passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you at this sad time. Fondly, Dennis and Jane Pocsatko and family.
