Friday, March 20, 2009

Goodbye Tommy


Last Friday, a dear friend, co-worker and at the time my boss, Tommy Preston died in a snowmobiling accident. Obviously this was a huge shock for all of us and I felt somewhat numb to the emotions initially. I traveled to New Jersey on Monday night to be with my other family, the employees of New Horizons and mourn the loss of a phenomenal guy.

I've known Tommy for many years since he started at New Horizons in Atlanta. Little did I know that this raspy-voiced, life of the party guy would someday become such a good friend and mentor. Tommy and I were recently paired up to tackle the marketing strategy for our company with his main responsibility being sales and mine being marketing. It was awesome. He'd call me every day and say "Sammy! what the f&*$ are you doing" in a joking yet caring way. He always was sensitive to the fact that I worked from home and how much I enjoyed hearing his voice even if it was just for a few minutes.

Tommy leaves behind his little toddler, Connor, as well as his enormous family and love, Amanda. Its very sad for all of us to bear the loss. If I never hear Amazing Grace played with bagpipes, I'll be happy. He was buried in St. Patrick's Day which will forever become "St. Tommy's Day" in my heart. Miss you Tommy.

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