Thomas E. Staudt, TX RPLS #3984 has closed his last traverse.
I missed the actual phone call from his son, but I was notified this evening that Tom had passed away.
I met Tom while working for another firm 30 years ago, here in Austin. Tom started his own business shortly thereafter and offered me a job. I party chiefed for him and his wife and they graduated me to doing tech work, before the days of CAD. I was slinging ink on mylar for him until the economy tanked in '87. I went to Memphis , TN and Tom went to Virginia with his family. He got his VA license. Somehow we both ended back here in the same vicinity of central Texas. After I got my TX license, I went to work for Tom again in 2004 through 2005. After Tom was notified in February that he had the Big C, he fought to maintain his ability to work every day. He went through the routine of chemo and radiation and that program took it's toll. He and his wife would commute an hour each way from his home to the office. I missed him at his office several times before I finally got to meet him and ask if there was anything I could do for him. He offered me a job yet a third time. I can only try to fill his shoes at Staudt Surveying but I will do the best I can as the business which bears his name stays open to serve Dripping Springs, Hays County, and the surrounding area. I send my thoughts and prayers to his wife, Sally, his son, Sam, and his daughters April and Amanda, and to each of their own families.
As Tom would say, "It might be right, it might be wrong, but we'll do something."
-vaya con Dios, Tom
Inspiring words, makes me think I should make a phone call and let my old mentor (also named Tom) know how much he changed the course of my life and how much better off I am because of him.
> Thomas E. Staudt, TX RPLS #3984 has closed his last traverse.
Well that is a pain to read. I knew Tom well back in the eighties, but only spoke with him occasionally after he moved off to Dripping Springs and that office in the old gas station following his stint at an Austin firm or two. That was before the exodus to Virginia.
I liked Tom. He was a character, of course, but aren't most of us?
Edit: As I sit here, I can hear his voice perfectly well and that third-generation Texas-German accent of his that he came by honestly somewhere in the Hill Country. Was it Fredericksburg?
I had heard he was going through rough times.
I had occasion to speak with Tom many times over the years, he was always very courteous and helpful and whenever I followed his work it was always spot on.
God bless his family and loved ones.
Randy
I met Tom and Sally in Forestry School at Stephen F. Austin in the late 70's and went to work surveying at the same company with Tom and Sally in May of 1979. They are more like a brother and sister to me than friends. Over the last 35 years, I usually only got to see them at the annual convention for a few days, but that was one of the main reasons for me going. Tom will certainly be missed by all his friends - heck, I miss him already.
I'm sorry to hear that, Bryan. I'd met him once at one of Walt's seminars, have retraced his work a fair bit over the last 15 years. Mark was that guy for me, was about this time of year 4 years ago at his house one morning that he told me he was done fighting. Still wonder almost everyday if the shots I'm taking, the sketches I'm making, the descriptions I'm writing would pass his muster.
Bout to head out for a long drive to the woods. Think I'll put on some zz top and tie a few extra witness trees today, for the both of them.
He was a good man. He will be missed.
> I met Tom and Sally in Forestry School at Stephen F. Austin in the late 70's and went to work surveying at the same company with Tom and Sally in May of 1979.
Yes, when I met Tom in about 1983, he had just arrived in Austin from East Texas. I'm pretty sure that he was wearing the first Filson vest I'd ever seen. He had some stories about East Texas surveying that involved a boss who "freshened up" the marks on bearing trees by recutting them over the old marks and used Sweet Gum pickets for laths.
That had to have at least have been his second Filson vest, because I remember when his first one got replaced with one that Sally sewed herself. No, we painted over old marks to freshen them up, but were under strict orders to not ever mark over an existing mark on a tree. Old surveyors back then (especially ones that owned the company) were much more strict than they could get away with now. That might have happened when he went to work with the USFS in Lufkin for a while. We did however cut "natural" lathes as we traversed or staked lines (still do) and they were ever bit as good as what we use now because we were particular about what we used. In fact, I think I had worked about 2 years before I ever got to regularly use pre-cut wood stakes or lathes and I wasn't even aware that you could eat lunch anywhere but in the woods. Also, we weren't making enough money to even consider buying lunch at a burger joint or convenience store if we could have found one.
> Also, we weren't making enough money to even consider buying lunch at a burger joint or convenience store if we could have found one.
Yes, the recutting of old marks was on some Forest Service work, as I recall. Links of smoked deer sausage his dad had made was a regular feature of the Staudt field lunch menu.
Yessir...Fredericksburg
He and his sister inherited his mom and dad's house on San Antonio Street after they passed away. Back when Tom first opened his business, his 72 y.o. dad would make that long commute in his '55 Chevy Bellaire on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. He wanted to work 5 days a week but Tom wouldn't let him. His dad was over 6' tall, over 200 lbs, not fat-just BIG, and would carry himself and the equipment up and down these central Texas hills. That was difficult enough work for a 24 y.o. man like me.
Pure blood German, that family. Sally's maiden name was Haas. They were high school sweethearts that ended up married.
Tom and Sally were ALWAYS looking to help OTHERS, and welcome folks wherever I would cross their path. Sorry to hear about his death, not surprised to read the awesome comments about the MAN that Tom Stoudt was while with us on this earth. May he rest in Peace.
I'm sorry to hear about your friend. My thoughts to all his family.
I copy and pasted this from the Virginia DPOR website.
He kept his Virginia license current.
Name: STAUDT, THOMAS EDWARD
License Number: 0403001984 (Would just be known as LS 1984)
License Description: Land Surveyor License
Address: DRIPPING SPRINGS TX, 78620
Initial Certification Date: 1993-06-07
Expiration Date: 2015-06-30
No Open Complaints (that's always nice to see)
http://www.dpor.virginia.gov/LicenseLookup/
Carl
Thanks Carl...
I found his VA stamp in my desk drawer.
Thanks Carl...
> I found his VA stamp in my desk drawer.
:good: I have all my fathers seals in a very special place.
Obit...
>> http://www.schaetter.com/obit-details.php?id=2810br >
You know, the most worrisome element to that obituary is that Tom apparently died of a brain tumor. It seems to me that more than a few surveyors I've known have also and I have to wonder whether it is an occupational hazard of some sort.
Occupational hazard?
According to my dermatologist Kent, there is actually some logic in your question.
We all know that melanoma is an occupational hazard. While the skin (the largest organ in, or on, your body) can heal itself usually of misbehavin' rebel cells; the lymph system lying just beneath the dermis is not as good at repelling boarders.
A "terrorist" cancer cell can escape to the lymph system and it's DNA can be spread all over the body to innocent and unsuspecting organs. Those are generally liver, lungs and CNS.
Case in point: Mark Deal. Mark had a sore on his back that wouldn't heal. His GP gave him some antibiotic ointment. The sore eventually healed to an extent. September of that year he came into the office with a hurt leg. He had jumped out of his truck and did something to his leg. He was quitting early that day because he wanted to have his leg looked at.
His leg hurt because the bone broke, weakened by osteosarcoma, probably originating in a melanoma and migrating to the bone. We went to his funeral in January.
Occupational hazard?
> According to my dermatologist Kent, there is actually some logic in your question.
I was thinking in particular about the hazards associated with sitting in front of those gigantic CRT displays that would have been typical in most surveying offices at one time. Melanoma sounds more plausible, even if in this case Tom was probably descended from some of the pretty dark-complected Southern Germans.
Occupational hazard?
> According to my dermatologist Kent, there is actually some logic in your question.
>
> We all know that melanoma is an occupational hazard. While the skin (the largest organ in, or on, your body) can heal itself usually of misbehavin' rebel cells; the lymph system lying just beneath the dermis is not as good at repelling boarders.
>
> A "terrorist" cancer cell can escape to the lymph system and it's DNA can be spread all over the body to innocent and unsuspecting organs. Those are generally liver, lungs and CNS.
>
> Case in point: Mark Deal. Mark had a sore on his back that wouldn't heal. His GP gave him some antibiotic ointment. The sore eventually healed to an extent. September of that year he came into the office with a hurt leg. He had jumped out of his truck and did something to his leg. He was quitting early that day because he wanted to have his leg looked at.
>
> His leg hurt because the bone broke, weakened by osteosarcoma, probably originating in a melanoma and migrating to the bone. We went to his funeral in January.
I miss the discussions we used to have with Mark. I found his board in 1997 and was a regular on it and its successor, until POB totally messed it up a couple of years ago.