Remembering Thomas Heald…

While Star Wars fans everywhere celebrate today (“May the 4th be with you”), there is another reason to take note of the day.

It has been a year since Thomas Heald shuffled off this mortal coil. I pride myself on my writing ability, but what takes me 300 words used to take Tom fewer than six (annoying but true). His quick-witted economy of language served to punctuate conversations, and — more often than not — the specific punctuation was a hilarious exclamation point. Speaking just for myself, he made me laugh out loud. I know “LOL” is casually used a lot here on the interweb, but when it comes to reading Tom’s postings, it was the gospel truth.

Included in the recent survey, I asked for some favorite Tom Heald stories, so my words wouldn’t be the the day’s only memorial of the man. Here is some of what the group recalls (feel free to add more in the comments section):

He was a great man and I wish I got to meet him, but all I can say was that we were on the same email list, and for some odd reason he thought well enough of me to invite me to contribute to the TV/NotTV website, which I never did.

Regrettably, nothing that hasn’t already been uttered.  The fake listing that got back to Tom Snyder is a personal favorite. I miss playing Facebook Scrabble with the man. I’d usually win.

I wish I could remember one.  All my memories are more about me thinking “how does this guy know these obscure facts and make humor out of them?”

I dearly miss Remote Patrol.  Tom alerted our family to so many shows that I would have otherwise not stumbled upon.  It’s too bad nobody has picked up mentioning what’s on, and worth watching, on a regular basis.  When he was ready to stop doing it because Jon was no longer going to edit, I was probably one of the first people to encourage him to keep going – and he did, although not as regularly, but enough that it was still entertaining.  I was happy to donate to St. Baldrick’s when Tom asked; he deserved more than that for his daily musings – I was almost tempted to encourage everyone in the group to do it again in his memory.

I loved his This day in TV history columns, and I really miss those.

I got into it late, but I always appreciated his rundown of what was going to be on that night. It was both helpful and humorous.

Tom begged me to come back after Aaron left.  He surely regretted this.

I miss his Remote Patrol – I had several friends and relatives signed up to get the e-mail and they all loved his humor and his information listing of what shows were new for the day – we haven’t found a source of that information that is as good or easy to get.

Back in the days when the weekly TV listings were mainly Sue Throwbridge supplied, Tom started to slip in one fake listing per week. Not knowing this, I wrote to Aaron to point out the fake listing and asked if it was indeed fake. He replied, “Yes, that’s our Tom.”  Indeed.

Loved his daily trivia questions

They’re all favorites. His daily previews were tiny works of comic art, and should be reposted occasionally.

Due to this list (and Aaron’s) I felt like I knew Tom (and felt fondly about him).

I do miss “Today in Late Night History”

I do miss his contributions a lot.

In case you missed it, the memorial wall is still up on the website. Feel free and check out some of what he wrote and what others wrote about him.

A year later, the conversation has just begun.

Thanks for the laughs Tom.