Thomas F. Drummond LTCDR USN (Retired)

Thomas Frank Drummond August 6, 1947 - December 29, 2025

Tom Drummond of Durham, NC passed away peacefully in the early hours of December 29, 2025. He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

He was preceded in death by his father, William Austin Drummond, his mother, Dorothy Louise Hopkins and his stepmother, Mary Elizabeth Council. Tom is survived by his wife Mimi (Madeleine Burke), his sons Bruce A .Drummond (Mary) of Hurst, Texas and Andrew J. Drummond of Horsham, PA. He is also survived by loving nieces and nephews: Julie Temple (Josh Olson), Stacy Temple (Jacob Benett), Jenn Capalby (Tony), Leo Rojas (Malia), Matthew Smith, Mary Smith, Greg Edge (Megan), Tim Burke (Maggie), Kelly Burke, Jack Burke, Emma Burke, Claire Burke, Mary Burke, Justin Burke, Joseph Burke Jr, and numerous great-nieces and nephews.

Tom was born in Butte, Montana. His family moved to Illinois when he was four and then to Santa Barbara where he finished his early education at Santa Barbara High School. While in High School, he joined the junior ROTC and loved it. He enlisted in the Navy in November of 1965 in lieu of attending college. The Navy immediately sent him to Electronics School, then to Nuclear Power Training and to Nuclear Submarine Training. He then attended Purdue University under the NESEP Program and earned his E. E. degree.

Tom was then sent to OCS. Lt. Drummond embarked on a long career as Naval Flight Officer; Navigation Officer; Training Officer; Missions Commander; and Adm in Officer at the Naval Annex in Arlington, VA for Admirals McKee, and Molloy. During that time, he met Mimi, through a blind date at an Armenian Church Bazaar! They married within the year and moved to Tom's last station, VXN 8 in Patuxent River, MD. Tom retired from the Navy in 1985 after twenty years of service. At his retirement he was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal. Tom often said that he grew up an only child in a family of five children. His sister Judy is five years older and was always with the older kids. When his father remarried, Tom was sixteen. He suddenly became a big brother, but within a year was off to the Navy. Imagine his own surprise when this quiet, studious fellow married and gained seven siblings-in- law: of loving and loud persuasion!

After Tom's retirement they moved to Horsham, PA. Bruce was born in '86 and Andy in '88, and the former Navy officer began a whole new life as DAD . The family lived in Horsham, PA for 31 years. After both Tom and Mimi retired, they moved to an over 55 community In Durham, NC .

Tom worked on the avionics of the Presidential Helicopter while at Pacer Systems In the 80's and 90's He was 'deployed' to Australia while at Pacer to work with the RAAF on radar systems, he worked for Cendant in NJ during the Y2K kerfuffle and found an error that saved the mortgage giants millions. He did not get a percentage, nope l He had a very proud moment while working for Raytheon in NJ. He was Senior Programming Engineer for the STARS Program, which installed new hardware and software to hundreds of Air Traffic Control Centers worldwide. He received a panic call at home from the radar operator at Willow Grove NAS, a mile down the road from us. That their system was to go online that afternoon and it was not working. You never saw him move so fast. It was his first chance to see an installation go live. He called home a couple of hours later in total triumph. It went online as scheduled. He had found the problem and fixed it. As my father would have said "Oh, Happy Day!" The NAS was pretty happy too.

Tom loved to work on computers. He loved to drive long distances and later, to take five-mile walks. He knew every dog in the neighborhood. He enjoyed cooking, music, reading and was always ready to travel. He was quiet but loved having people around. He loved puns. He made sure his family was cared for. My former neighbors Shirley and Saul Lassoff wrote it best:

"When we think of Tom, we think of a gentle, shy man with a good sense of humor and a sweet smile. He was a loving husband and father who seemed to most enjoy being with you, the boys, and the family. " That's Tom.

A visitation will be held at Hudson Funeral Home, 211 S. Miami Blvd, Durham, NC on Thursday January 8, 2026, from 6-8 pm. A Mass of Christian Burial will be said at Holy Cross Catholic Church, 2438 S. Alston Ave, Durham, NC on Friday January 9, 2026, at 11 a m. Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery at a date and time to be announced later.