THOMAS T. CLAUDSON 

April 25, 1933, to January 5, 2015

Tom Claudson was born on April 25, 1933, in Pratt, Kansas, to Laverne Ernst Claudson and Kathryn Delores (Jones) Claudson. He died on January 5, 2015, in Bremerton, Washington, at age 81.

As a youth in Pasadena, California, Tom sang with the Pasadena Boys Choir in the Rose Parade and also on stage with Bob Hope. His family later moved to Klamath Falls, Oregon, where he graduated from Klamath Union High School in 1951. Tom was reluctant to move to Klamath Falls, but this was the turning point in his life, because that’s where he met and began dating Mary Frances Hooker, the class valedictorian who made him do his homework.

Tom attended the University of Washington, where he earned a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1955. Within days after his college graduation, on June 25, 1955, he married his high-school sweetheart Mary at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Klamath Falls. Tom and Mary settled in Richland, Washington, where Tom worked for General Electric at the Hanford Nuclear Site. He earned an M.S. degree from Oregon State University’s Graduate Center in Richland in 1958, and in 1959 he took a leave of absence from General Electric to attend Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, where he earned a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 1962. He also received a Certificate of Completion from Harvard University School of Business in Business Management in 1983.

Tom spent most of his career working in the field of nuclear fuels and materials research and development for various contractors at Hanford, first as a research engineer and scientist and later as a manager. He was Manager of Research Engineering for Westinghouse Hanford Company and a Director of Engineering Technology for Battelle Memorial Institute. From 1979 to 1985, Tom worked in private industry as Vice-President of Operations for Criton Technologies in Bellevue, Washington. Tom was a Fellow of both the American Society for Metals and the American Nuclear Society, and a member of Sigma Xi and Theta Xi honor societies.

He was always interested in higher education and taught for 17 years at the Graduate Center in Richland. From 1992 to 1999 he was associated with Heritage University, in Toppenish, Washington, as a manager, teacher, and Chair of the Science and Technology Division.

Tom believed that the best thing he and Mary could give their children was a solid education. He was proud of the educational and career accomplishments of his children. His hard work also provided the family with memorable vacations in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and permitted Tom and Mary to travel extensively in their retirement. They moved to Port Ludlow, Washington, in 2006.

Tom was preceded in death by Mary, his beloved wife of 59 years, who died six months before him, by his parents, by his only sister, Marilyn Phelps, and by an infant daughter, Susan Elizabeth Claudson. He is survived by four children, Mary Theresa Hupp (Alfred Hupp), Robert Mark Claudson, Rosemary Anne Larson (Troy Larson), and Thomas Michael Claudson (Danika Claudson), and by six grandchildren, James Robert Hupp, Margaret Cecelia Hupp, Kathleen Elizabeth Larson, Megan Alicia Larson, Caroline Grace Claudson, and Molly Abigail Claudson.

A memorial Mass will be held on April 25, 2015, at 10:00am, at Christ the King Catholic Church in Richland, Washington. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Children’s Hospital in Seattle, Washington, to Heritage University in Toppenish, Washington, to Christ the King School in Richland, Washington, or to the charity of your choice.