Thomas Elmo Brewer

Thomas Elmo Brewer, age 81, passed away on July 14, 2025 at his home in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Mr. Brewer was born on October 28, 1943, in Pleasant Hill, Tennessee, the son of the late Elmo Mitchell Brewer and Winona (Smith) Brewer. He was predeceased by brother Gary Ephraim Brewer. Survivors include: sister, Gale Brewer of Chadds Ford, PA; niece, Emily Whitfield of Norristown, PA; niece, Tracie Whitfield of Gastonia, NC; brother-in-law, Ralph Whitfield of Gastonia, NC; and others whose lives he touched.

”Obituary for Thomas Elmo Brewer (written by Tom himself, published as he wished)

“If you are reading this Tom Brewer is dead and you aren’t. Were he able to do anything more creative than playing dead he would hope that one of these facts gives you considerably more joy than the other and wish you well. Despite using his most compelling weasel words, he was unable to convince Charon his name was Occupant or Current Resident and was given his one way trip over the river Styx to that magical kingdom where all the water fountains serve Perrier, there are no traffic lights or cops, forms to be filled out, lines to stand in, or students wanting to be given credit for having found a wrong answer.

Thomas Elmo Brewer was born on October 28, 1943, in Pleasant Hill, Tennessee to Elmo Mitchell Brewer and Winona Smith Brewer of Crossville both of whom were reasonably pleased with their first-born. They were even happier when the brood was increased with the arrival of Baby Sister Vivien Gale Brewer of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania and Baby Brother Gary Ephraim Brewer of Crossville. He was particularly delighted when Baby Sister provided him with his two precious nieces Emily Allison Whitfield of Norristown, Pennsylvania and Tracie Robyn Whitfield of Gastonia, North Carolina. He also has numerous cousins and an aunt some of whom will concede to knowing him particularly if they were confused by the question. For most of the previous century the Brewer clan owned and operated Brewer’s Department Store which was a fixture on Main Street in Crossville just south of the railroad tracks which went the way of the dodo when I-40 made Crossville a suburb of Knoxville.

He attended Crossville elementary school and Cumberland County High School where he was often confused for Wally Cox and graduated as part of Cumberland County first experiment in social promotions. The highlight of his K-12 career was when he was chosen to play a pumpkin in a Thanksgiving pageant to make maximum use of his rhetorical and mobility skills. After escaping CCHS (which ironically today is an actual hoosegow) he wandered for years seeking a higher education. Finally, in a decision that remains controversial even today with some claiming it was a clerical error, he received a degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia after which he spent several decades teaching generations of students how to stick wires into holes at that august institution. He hopes that he taught each, many, or, at least, some of them a valuable lesson in life: For each of us in there is a hole. Find it. Jump into it. And refuse to leave.

Should you wish to pay him homage, open your frig door, find something you don’t want to eat, throw it into the yard, and make a critter happy.”