Thomas E Naughton

Thomas E Naughton (November 15, 1927 - June 30, 2016)

Thomas E. Naughton, 88, longtime Poplar area resident, passed away June 30, 2016 at his residence.

“I had a life I never would have imagined.”

Thomas was born in Chicago, growing up a few blocks away from the stockyards memorialized in Upton Sinclair’s novel 'The Jungle.' He and his brother attended St George’s Church and School, spending weekends cleaning it to help their widowed mom Eva pay the tuition.

As a young teen, he developed a unique skill shooting billiards, once skipping school for several weeks and winning bets in smoky pool halls down on Maxwell Street. That is, until his mom found out!  He then took on a more traditional part-time job, selling papers outside Comiskey Park, where the White Sox played.

At the age of seventeen, Thomas enlisted in the US Navy to serve his country. He eventually took aviator training at Pensacola Naval Air Station and earned his wings. He qualified in a number of aircraft, including the Texan, Hellcat, and Corsair, as well as carrier landings. He truly was a member of the “Greatest Generation.”

Thomas continued serving his country as a Russian linguist in Washington DC, before exiting and moving back to Chicago. To the point of his passing, he could still recite many phrases in Russian, German, and French, and was quite fluent in Spanish.

He completed his undergraduate degree at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

In 1954, he married the love of his life, Olga Plaza, sister of his high school friend, Arnold Plaza. They birthed their first son, Kevin, before moving to Indianapolis, where Thomas opened and ran a finance office.

His young family moved back to Chicago and continued building their life together. It was there Thomas began a three-decade career as an educator. He earned a Master’s of Science Degree in Reading Education, nurturing his lifelong love of reading while developed skills to help others appreciate the same.

It was not easy during those years, given his fast-growing family. His routine included classroom teaching during the day, graduate classes in the evening, plus additional hours loading and unloading buses at the Greyhound Terminal downtown. “Sometimes you have to make sacrifices.”

Seeking better opportunities for his family, Thomas moved Olga and their family to Iron River in 1970, and he started teaching in the Superior School District at Nemadji School.

Living on Long Lake, the children found it humorous when a school bus driver once refused to drive out there to pick them up after an overnight snow. Yet there was their dad, driving that old, white Volkswagen, with no heat and a faulty battery, traveling over 50 miles on icy, wintry roads to make it to Nemadji School on time.

After Iron River, Thomas and Olga moved to Wentworth, where they completed their family with the birth of their last child, Jason. All ten children graduated from Northwestern High School in Maple, and several followed in their dad's footsteps by serving in the Armed Forces.

Thomas completed his career as an educator at Lake Superior Elementary, where he retired in 1992.

He gained membership to Mensa and was a longtime member.

Thomas’ patience and love of learning influenced countless young minds. For some time thereafter, people would walk up and introduce themselves to “Mr Naughton” in a Twin Ports store or gas station, thanking him for the positive impact he made on their lives. He assisted several students with disabilities learn how to read, helping them adapt and thrive for years to come.

Being a teacher did have advantages: summers off. This usually meant loading up the Volkswagen bus with the family and heading to El Paso, Texas, where Olga’s extended family warmly greeted the travelers with Mexican food and song. There were many extended camping trips to Gila and Lincoln National Forests, Carlsbad Caverns, and other locations throughout New Mexico and the Southwest.

One such trip included a broken down VW bus and trailer on remote stretch of Wyoming road. This occurred on the way home from visiting to Texas, with an extended leg to California to visit his beloved Aunt Tootsie. After camping overnight next to a gas station, he shed the trailer, rented a truck, loaded his family in the back, towed the bus, and pressed on home: he was never one to give up easily.

His beloved Olga passed in 1990, which hit Thomas extremely hard. But resiliency and a strong faith got him through this dark period. So did the Garth Brooks’ song ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes.’ Nearly thirty years later, in his final days as his own lights dimmed, his talk included “conversations” with Olga, for whom his love and commitment never wavered.

Thomas served in the Wisconsin Civil Air Patrol Squadron at the Bong Memorial Airport in Superior, where he rose to the rank of Captain. Once, when surplus military clothing was being given away, he loaded up his car and drove by himself to El Paso, where he donated the clothing for distribution to poor children.

After retiring, he was a manager at Allouez Spur, where he continued the many social contacts built over the years as a teacher and member of the St Anthony’s community.

In recent years, he gave back to the community and his fellow veterans by donating thousands of books to the Richard I. Bong WWII Heritage Center in Superior.

In addition to his wife, children, and of course, books, Thomas loved flying, history, New York Times crossword puzzles, Snickers bars, black coffee, Western art, drawing, collecting stamps and coins. He spent many hours clipping newspaper articles he found interesting or topical, carefully annotating the date and source on each.

Thomas leaves behind seven sons and three daughters: Kevin (Terese), St. Paul MN; Sharon (Joseph) Lipinski, Stillwater MN; Timothy (Kimberly), Roseville CA; Claudia (John) Capello, Plymouth MN; Brian (Aniko), St Paul MN; Maria (John) Naughton, Melbourne, Australia; Robert (Odessa), Ridgeland WI; John, Poplar WI; James (Paula), River Falls WI; and Jason, Edina MN.

Thomas had thirty-four grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren.

Visitation will begin at 5:00 PM, Friday, July 8, 2016 at Lenroot-Maetzold Funeral Home, 1209 East 5 ^th Street, Superior.

Visitation will continue at 10:00 AM, Saturday, July 9, 2016, at St Anthony’s Catholic Church in Allouez and continue until the 11:00 AM, Mass of Christian Burial with Rev. Father Adam Laski as celebrant.

Interment will be at the St. Michael’s Church Cemetery, Iron River starting at 2:00 PM.

Pallbearers are grandsons Ryan Naughton, Sean Lipinski, Nathaniel Smith, Jonathan Capello, Thomas Naughton, and Aidan Naughton.

A luncheon will immediately follow the Mass in St Anthony’s church basement.

The Lenroot-Maetzold Funeral Home, 1209 East 5 ^th Street, Superior is assisting

the family with arrangements.

To leave an online condolences or to sign the guestbook, please visit

www.lenroot-maetzold.com