Thomas James Carver

Thomas James Carver, age 69, passed away peacefully on July 17, 2025 in Fort Worth, Texas, surrounded by loved ones.

Tom was born on May 5, 1956 to Marge and Frank Carver in Tacoma, Washington. As the eldest of three boys in a military family, Tom spent his childhood moving from Washington to Alaska to Northern California, acquiring military principles along the way that would lay the framework for a disciplined and goal oriented life. When he was eight, the family was stationed in Germany where they spent three adventurous years learning new customs and traveling around Europe until they returned to the US, making their permanent home in Glendora, California. At the age of eleven, Tom was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a decision which would drastically change the trajectory of his life. As a young boy, he navigated his new faith without the company of his parents or brothers. Tom was a graduate of Glendora High School and later attended Citrus College.

At the age of 20, Tom was called to serve as a missionary in the Minnesota Minneapolis mission (also known as the Northern States mission), and he later served in the Illinois Chicago mission. For two years his love of people and the gospel of Jesus Christ merged as he immersed himself in teaching and serving. His fragile leadership abilities were developed while serving as the assistant to his mission president. He lived with and learned from the mission president and his wife, who truly became surrogate parents to him and whose example he would reference throughout his life.

On August 12, 1978 Tom married Dawn Stefan in the Los Angeles California temple for time and all eternity. They were deeply united in their purpose of creating, providing for, and teaching the gospel to their seven children. In their nearly forty-seven years together, they prioritized service as they alternated supporting roles while serving in their many callings in the church until they finally were able to serve together in the Dallas Texas Temple for the last three years, and as Service Mission Advisors in the Texas Fort Worth mission for the last two years. The latter fulfilled a longtime goal of once again serving as a missionary, this time with his favorite companion, Dawn. Tom served as the Bishop of the Jurupa 4th Ward, Bishop of the Cleburne Ward, Stake President of the Weatherford Texas Stake, and in many other impactful roles - big and small - throughout his lifetime of dedicated service. His favorite callings included anything to do with scouting or missionary work. It comes as no surprise to his family that he left this mortal existence with the title of Elder still preceding his name, as he undoubtedly will continue his missionary service on the other side of the veil.

Tom's career began in Southern California, where he quickly climbed the ranks at Vons Grocery and would eventually play a managerial role at dozens of different grocery stores in the area. In 1994, his career took him to Texas where he spent his most successful years at H-E-B grocery. There he achieved record breaking status at the Cleburne store when he more than doubled sales, contributing to the closure of multiple competitor stores in the area. He was responsible for opening the Waxahachie H-E-B, and was eventually tasked with simultaneously overseeing the Cleburne, Waxahachie, Ennis, and Corsicana stores. Tom spent several years at Tom Thumb grocery, notably managing the Mansfield store. The final years of his career were spent at Kroger. He had a special talent for motivating and bringing out the best in his employees and was widely known as a personable and compassionate boss. Tom took a genuine interest in the lives of the people he worked with who in turn would put forth their best efforts for him, resulting in the many career successes he was able to achieve. Tom always made sincere friends in the communities where he worked and would regularly be overheard addressing customers by name and inquiring about the specifics of their lives and their family members. He could often be found attending a Lion's Club or Rotary Club meeting in the communities where he worked, where he further extended his network of valued friends and colleagues.

Tom pursued an unusually wide array of hobbies and interests throughout his life including: baseball, boxing, dirt bike racing, surfing and boogie boarding, racquet ball, church basketball and volleyball, fishing and deep sea fishing, boating, ham radio operation, scouting and wood badge, and, perhaps most of all, golf.

Many of these passions suddenly became less interesting when they were almost all replaced by his all time favorite sport - spending time with any of his 36 grandchildren.

Tom is survived by his wife, Dawn, his children Chris (Geneva) Carver of Anchorage, Alaska, Nicole (Nathan) Abraham of Smithville, Missouri, Carrie (Ryan) Anderson of Prosper, Texas, Brent (Janeen) Carver of Burley, Idaho, Bryan Carver of Boise, Idaho, Jeffrey (Kirsten) Carver of Tipton, Missouri, and Caitlin (Eric) Lichtenberg of Milan, Michigan.

Tom is also survived by his 36 grandchildren:

Annalee, Addalynn, Mavery, Everett, Grant, Callan, and Ivy Carver

Ethan, Shelby, Linkin, Hudson, and Carson Abraham

Kaydree, Carver, Elsie, Ava, Bennett, Davis, and Wells Anderson

Jackson, Matthew, Charlie, Hallie, and Grady Carver

JJ, Annie, Lila, Samson, Louise, and Charlotte Carver

Emmit, Kalkidan, Jonas, Ford, Mack, and Beza Lichtenberg

Tom was preceded in death by his father, Frank, his mother, Marge, and his brothers, Russell and Charlie.

Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, July 26th at 10:00am at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Tom will be laid to rest at Rosehill Cemetery in Cleburne, Texas.

The Carver family has taken great comfort in their belief that they will be reunited as a forever family one day. If you would like to learn more, please visit churchofjesuschrist.org.