Thomas Clifford Minard

Thomas “Tom” Clifford Minard of Keene, NH passed away on August 6, 2021, just three days shy of his 77th birthday. The third of five siblings, Tom was born at Alice Peck Day Hospital in Lebanon, NH on August 9, 1944 to Hila (Finn) and Theodore N. Minard, Sr. Tom’s father worked as an accountant in Lebanon and also owned Hanover Ice Company where, as a young boy, Tom would help his dad.

Tom attended Sacred Heart Catholic School and served as an alter boy at Sacred Heart Church. During his summer months, he enjoyed time with friends at Camp Pinnacle in Lyme, NH. He played football at Lebanon High School and, following his graduation in 1962, he enlisted in the US Air Force. Tom trained at Sheppard AFB in Texas and Travis AFB in California and then completed the remainder of his service in Thule, Greenland, where he was a data processing machine operator. Following his honorable discharge, he worked with his dad at his accounting firm in Lebanon for a few years before enrolling at Keene State College. There, Tom earned his bachelor’s degree in Education (History). When his brief stint student teaching at Monadnock High School in Swanzey led him to realize that teaching was not his calling, Tom returned to that with which he was most familiar: accounting and data processing. Main Street America Group, formerly known as National Grange Mutual Insurance Company (aka NGM), would be his place of employment for the next 35 years, during which time Tom earned his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Franklin Pierce University. In 2005, Tom retired from NGM to enjoy a life of leisure and relaxation.

For all the years that Tom worked at NGM, when he was asked by new acquaintances what he did for work prior to his retirement, his response went, first and foremost, to his earlier years serving his country in the Air Force. He was proud of his service and of voluntarily enlisting at time when enlisting voluntarily was not a popular thing to do.

Tom’s hobbies included golf, bowling, building computers, mowing the lawn, creative cooking (throwing edibles together into a pot) and, in his younger days, building things with wood and playing softball on the NGM men’s team. He enjoyed walking the beaches of Wells, Maine and hiking and camping in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. More than anything, Tom enjoyed spending time with good friends and family and, particularly, his eight grandchildren. He was a lifetime member of the Elks and a member of the Keene Country Club for several years. Known affectionately by his childhood friends as “Brewno,” in his later years, Tom was lovingly nicknamed “Tiny” due to his big frame and tall stature. Tom was known for his impressive collection of Hawaiian shirts, his often memorable outfits, his love of tequila and Bob Dylan, and shoveling snow in his shorts in the middle of winter.

Tom will be missed by his dear friends and family, especially his wife of almost 37 years, Suzanne Stevens, of Alstead and Keene, NH; his children Pamela Cavallo and her husband, Jamie, of Milford, CT; Thomas Minard, Jr. and his wife, Karri, of Trumbull, CT; Jessica Minard of Newport, NH; and Gregory Minard of Keene; his sisters, Mary Moynihan and her husband, Robert, of Columbia, MD; and Melissa Minard of Novi, MI; his grandchildren James Cavallo, Dean Cavallo, Lily Cavallo, Elena Cavallo, Brianna Minard, Kaitlyn Minard, Abby Minard, and Owen Minard; sister-in-law Jacqueline Minard of Lebanon; cousin Margaret “Maggie” West and her husband, Don, of Lyme, NH; nephews and nieces Ted Minard, Jim Minard, Tricia Kirshneur, Abby Moynihan Chase, and Emily Laurent; and cousins too numerous to name in and around the Lebanon area. In addition to his parents, Tom is predeceased by his brother, Theodore Minard, Jr, his sister, Martha Minard, his nephew, Nathan Minard, and his life-long childhood friend, Tony LaBombard, formerly of Lyme, NH.

Spiritual Care Counselor Charbel Semaan of Home Healthcare, Hospice & Community Services of Keene will officiate a brief graveside service with military honors at Valley/Sacred Heart Cemetery, 258 Mascoma Street in Lebanon, NH on Saturday, August 28 at 1pm. Afterward, all are invited to the Lebanon Elks Lodge, 99 Heater Road in Lebanon for a social gathering and celebration of Tom’s life. Because it is what Tom would have wanted, everyone is invited to wear their favorite Hawaiian shirt or something fun, colorful, and bright. Leis, shorts, and baseball or golf caps are welcomed! Also, since COVID is still a major concern, regardless of vaccination status, please maintain appropriate social distance to the extent possible. Vaccinated folks should consider masking when near others who are not in your immediate household, especially if distancing is not possible. All individuals who qualify for the vaccine but who are not vaccinated are kindly requested to wear a mask.

In lieu of flowers, tribute donations may be made in Tom’s memory to the Alzheimer’s Association (https://act.alz.org/donate) or to the Monadnock United Way, 23 Center Street, Keene NH 03431.