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We Remember Steuben

12/22/2012

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Saturday, February 11th, 2012
Email from December, 2000

Subject: The mystery surrounding Tom’s death

I don’t wish to be morbid–or dwell on negativity, that’s not really the focus of this forum. However I feel like the facts of Tom’s untimely passing need to be shared for those who aren’t privy to the details–no matter how painful. This is my account from what I gathered via Tom’s Mother. The letter below was sent out to friends of mine back in late 2000.To the Gallison family: If there are inaccuracies–please let me know so I can correct them.This is a bit long so print and read at your leisure….

All—I just received a Christmas card from Tom’s mother. She sent a picture of the stone that was just recently placed in Fairview. It is fairly large, black and inscribed simply: TOM GALLISON —-FEB 1969 ~FEB 2000. In the lower right corner: STEUBEN with a little star next to it. They sent one of his headshots to an artist who made a sketch and somehow they imprinted the drawing into the stone above Tom’s name. It looks remarkably like a photograph. She plans on putting some of the remains there and the rest in the garden in their back yard, where Tom used to work sometime. To update everybody about what has gone on the past 6 months, here is a recap to what has been a very long, tedious, frustrating and painful ordeal for the Gallison family.

As I think you all know, Tom’s death certificate lists the cause of death as “suicide.” I think the majority of us believe this to be inaccurate to say the least. The Gallison family has been trying to get the Union County Medical Examiner to change this to “undetermined” or perhaps, “death by misadventure.” They have as of yet been unsuccessful. Now it’s certainly easy for many to say “Changing it is not going to bring Tom back. What does it matter?” Well it matters to Tom’s family, most especially his mother. That’s enough of a reason for me to want to get this done and hopefully you too. The principle of the matter is at stake here and that lies in more than just the fact that Tom’s death will contribute to an already inaccurate statistic. It lies mostly in the fact that this tragic occurrence was unprofessionally and improperly handled from top to bottom. It was treated as casually and routinely as if there are people killed by trains in Westfield every week.

Police Lieutenant John Parizeau on the scene checked the little white box next to ‘suicide’ as a probable cause of death. This was upheld by the Union County Medical Examiner Ms. Linares (she wishes to be called, DOCTOR, please), who based her decision on a combination of medical (ahem) facts and testimony. For those who did not get a chance to see the medical examiners report, here is a short run-down of some of DOCTOR Linares’ findings.

1) Deceased had no traces of Marijuana, cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, barbiturates, or a hundred thousand other drugs too long to list here.

2) Deceased had a beard.

3) Deceased stomach contents contained alcohol.

4) Deceased urine sample was clear, indicating that he had been drinking alcohol.

5) Deceased had a blood-alcohol content of .10

6) Deceased had no known medical condition.

If you find numbers 2 and 6 unbelievable then you are right, because they simply aren’t true. If you find numbers 2 and 6 unbelievable, then you are just feeling an nth of the amazement the Gallison family has felt for almost a year now. Amazed that a medical examiner could call herself DOCTOR and come back with such a glaringly incomplete, inaccurate and amateur report as this. You might also expect to see “Deceased was dead” somewhere among these other’s mentioned above.

Dr. Linares, the Union County Medical Examiner, also took into consideration a written statement by one Nora Pellegrino, the woman Tom was having a relationship with. In Nora’s statement, she states that Tom was a chronic alcoholic and drank every day. Her description of the events that night were taken down word for word and believed by both Dr. Linares and the Police.

Facts on Nora:Married, two kids, husband knew about her relationship with Tom and supposedly didn’t mind. They had (quote)”An open relationship” (end quote). The police/detectives interviewed Nora and her husband, and despite the blatant possibilities for foul play in this scenario, they believed her story and everything she said about Tom.

The police had told Tom’s mother they identified him by his driver’s license photo. In reality, Nora identified the body that day. Tom’s parents were never told this. Yet another inconsistency in a case that seems like it was destined to be swept under the rug from the beginning. In hindsight, it appears the police were deliberately withholding information. Tom’s mother didn’t know Nora was even involved until Nora called her from the hospital 4 days later. Why the police were withholding all this from the Gallison family, I don’t know. (This would never fly on ‘Law and Order’). Maybe they had their reasons, but certainly at some point they could have come forth with all the facts, rather than let the family discover these things on their own. In general, the police have treated the Gallison’s as though they needed to be “spared” details on the incident, as if they would feel better being kept in the dark. All of this is assuming that the Westfield police even knew what they were doing, which frankly, is also questionable.

Tom’s mother Dorothy happened to read Nora’s statement and find out about Nora identifying the body, only after Dr. Linares offered to let her see the statement in an effort to convince her that this was a suicide. Nora’s statement is, in fact, the reason Dr. Linares did not and apparently will not change the cause of death. It is absolutely preposterous for a decision like this to be based on the testimony of one person. There is no note, no proof that Tom had any intention of killing himself. We only have Nora’s word. She says he left a message on her answering machine saying something that might lead one to believe Tom would do such a thing, however that message was conveniently erased.

I am not trying to discredit Nora, nor imply that she is directly responsible for Tom’s death. I am merely bringing to light that in this investigation there was not a lot of investigating done. From the Keystone cops of Westfield, to the ramblings of a State Detective named Cassidy (whose seemingly sole function and contribution to the case was to repeatedly interview Tom’s mother over coffee every couple of days), to the painfully absurd findings of Dr. Linares; this case was treated as though it took place in a small town where nothing bad ever happens. (Maybe suicides, but no (god -forbid) accidents or (gasp) homicides.)

Mary Wilford, (my mother) has been involved with this in that she initiated a letter along with one from Tom’s family, to an elected official, namely Assemblyman Richard Bagger requesting more information as to the conclusions that were made about Tom’s death. Only after many letters and months of going back and forth on this issue, did Dr. Linares finally agree to talk to Tom’s Mother. She did so, and after relating much of the above mis-information (and realizing her incompetence meter was steadily rising for all to see) she requested to speak with Mary instead. Her intention was to convince Mary of Tom’s suicide and let her be the one to convince Dorothy. Let it be noted that Dr. Linares had the audacity to say that Tom’s mother was “in denial” of her son’s suicide because she was so grief-stricken and should seek counseling.

Mary found Dr. Linares adamant that Tom committed suicide. The doctor showed her Nora’s statement as “proof”. Mary explained that people close to Tom found it difficult to believe that Tom would ever commit suicide, least of all under circumstances such as these. Why should one person’s slant on Tom be the deciding factor on the cause of death? Were there not other possibilities? Perhaps a bizarre accident as Tom often wandered around at night on the train tracks. (We all know this to be true of Tom.) Or perhaps his diabetes played some part in this tragedy. At any rate there is enough doubt lingering about to simply say: “We don’t know what happened that night.”

But police and doctors don’t like to admit to such a thing as “not knowing”. They must know, because they are professionals and they never make mistakes. They have seen a hundred cases just like this one, it’s always the same.

Mary inquired who would be hurt if indeed they decided to change the cause of death to “undetermined.” Would the Lieutenant’s clean record be at stake? Would he be reprimanded, assigned desk work, his reputation shattered? No. Would Dr. Linares lose her (I can’t believe I’m even writing the word in the same sentence) credibility? No. Mary then pointed out that while changing it would not hurt anyone, it would help the Gallison family. Dr. Linares responded: “We don’t want to change it because we don’t believe we are wrong.”

Contrary to the medical examiners report, Tom did have a known medical condition. Tom had diabetes. His blood-sugar content was not tested by Dr. Linares when she conducted the autopsy. In August, at the family’s request she finally did run the test. Normal blood sugar content is 100 – 120. Tom’s blood sugar came back as 10.The Gallison family had their own toxicologist examine that report. He said that in his estimation Tom was near comatose at the time of his death.

The conductor of the train said Tom was lying face-down, and only raised his head slightly when the train horn sounded. A friend of mine was a paramedic for many years in Eastern Iowa and Chicago, and was called to the scenes of numerous cases whereby victims committed suicide by jumping or stepping in front of a train. He never saw one case where a victim lay on the tracks and waited for one.

Tom nearly drowned in the summer of 1999 when while swimming in the ocean, his blood sugar dipped so low he hadn’t the strength to swim. Fortunately, his brother was near enough to pull him to safety.

All these things add up to this: A terrible tragedy occurred early morn February 25th, 2000 in Westfield, New Jersey. We don’t know the specifics of what happened and most likely never will. The only thing that is clear is that we don’t know what happened. For this reason, the cause of Tom’s death should be simply: “undetermined.”

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tom gallison would love it

12/21/2012

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Friday, May 4th, 2007

Worthless information? Maybe.

At three minutes and four seconds after 2 AM on the 6th of May this year, the time and date will be 02:03:04 05/06/07

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Tom GAllison - RIP my good friend. You are greatly missed

12/21/2012

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Thursday, October 5th, 2006

“vast endless nothing that branches out into realm beyond realm. this and these are mine, together they are nothing…”

-sun ra

Below are archived posts taken from a previous website. These are dedicated to the memory of Tom Gallison.

Below are the archived posts from the previously active Tom Gallison BBS which I’m going to be shutting down. I’d like to keep the page up, but unfortunately the only traffic there are those annoying spam robots placing links to their (often offensive) sites. 

“Active Listening” has great spam protection and I wasn’t all that impressed with the features of the PHPBB site anyway. (Not to mention the lack of posts in the past year–you people know who you are!)

It is still my intention to always maintain a sounding board for those of us who will never forget the memory of Tom or even let it fade into the obscurity of the past. The archived posts from the previous site are located here-new comments, additions, stories, quotes and general dialogue revolving around Tom need to be posted directly into the ‘Leave comment’ section at the bottom of this page. (And please feel free to do so!)

Steuben Lives!



 

About this site:‘Art Never Dies’ (www.artneverdies.com) was inspired by the untimely death of Tom Gallison, who was killed when he was struck by a train on February 25th, 2000. He had turned 31 on February 12th. The Medical examiner ruled his death a suicide, but his family, friends and those who knew him well refuse to believe this. The circumstances surrounding his death have never been properly investigated nor fully explained to this day. It remains a tragic mystery.Tom expressed his art in a number of ways. Primarily, he was an actor and a musician. What amazed my friends and I about Tom was that while we all had our passions—Tom focused on his 24/7. His creative spirit fired on all cylinders—all the time. Tom and I spent much time together – and it was not simply two friends hanging out for awhile. An evening with Tom was an event. Our friendship was always – always – a celebration of the bond we had. It was a friendship that I am thankful to have had—because I have never experienced anything like it before or since.

Those of us who knew Tom are left with a tremendous void in the wake of his death. I personally looked at my life in a completely different light after that fateful February morning. I consider myself an artist—but I saw that I was really not doing all I could. Tom had more creative energy in his pinky toe than I do. When I think of the terrible waste it is that Tom isn’t here, I want to shake God himself by the lapels and ask, WHY? WHY, TOM GALLISON?

I realized that this sort of thinking wasn’t going to get me anywhere. God wasn’t going to stand for anyone bucking his system. It’s been around a few million years. So instead—I asked myself what I could do to A) preserve the memory of Tom and B) get off my arse and start making art a priority in my life.

I started out small. I’m not a landscaper, but I like working with my hands, so one day I took some old bricks and a shovel out in my backyard and dug out a modest memorial to Tom. I made a large square with the bricks and inside of that a distinct capital ‘T,’ then planted flowers. Tom and I used to play all night games of scrabble, so originally, the ‘T’ had scrabble pieces glued onto it that spelled out his name and his alias: Steuben. Sadly, the Iowa weather has since taken its toll on those. I found a big rock and placed it above the ‘T’ with plans to one day bury a sealed time capsule of various Tom Gallison artifacts. (Playbills, performance reviews, song lyrics, etc.) I completed the Gallison memorial by placing an old bench at the foot of it. It is a peaceful place to sit and relax after a long day.

My cats found the site very much to their liking—they were always prowling about over the bricks and lying on the bench. I found it amusing because they had an affinity for Tom that they showed to very few people. That first summer I planted mammoth sunflowers to one side of the memorial and they grew over 7 feet high. They were like sentries standing tall in honor. I remember that fall when they died, the huge dried blossoms of each flower hung down like heads lowered in prayer.

It was a very long time after Tom died before I could write any songs. I didn’t even try—didn’t have the desire—didn’t want to. I knew better than to force something as delicate as that. I sat on the bench of my little Gallison memorial and strummed my guitar all summer long—playing nothing in particular—except maybe a short chord progression that seemed to keep rising to the surface.

At last the words came, slowly and shy, like children emerging from behind furniture when they’ve broken something valuable. I wrote ‘Curtain Falls,’ and put it to the chords I’d been playing since the previous summer. It was April 2001. Afterwards there were many versions of this song both lyrically and musically—it was an incredible struggle. I had never written anything quite so personal before. My songs at the time were mainly story-based songs revolving around fictional characters, though their experiences were reflections of my observations of life. ‘Curtain Falls’ was the beginning of a project that would span well over 3 years and over a dozen songs—dedicated to or written specifically about Tom.

In December 2004 I completed a full-length CD of original songs entitled: “A Portrait of the Artist.” I made numerous copies for both the family and friends of Tom as well as others whom I knew could appreciate the tribute.

As the recording of “A Portrait…” was winding down my thoughts turned to what I could do next. I felt a tremendous epiphany at being able to share my personal relationship experiences with Tom. But I was only one person. The very idea came to me as I was writing a letter to Tom’s Mother. The letter would contain the first copies of the CD dedicated to her son. Here is an excerpt:

Tom brought an incredible amount of joy and entertainment into the world. This CD is a celebration of our relationship in particular. I am only one person—and for him to have touched my life in such a way is a gift I will never forget. I can understand the sorrow of each and every one of his friends, because I’m pretty sure they can each say the same thing in regards to their relationship with him. I don’t have to tell you how special a person he was. His memories have now become as large as his life was. They are all we have. These lyrics, music, sound-bytes and samples are all a celebration of Tom Gallison—The Artist. May he rest in peace—his memories and his art will never die.

The seed was planted. I was only one person—what about the rest of Tom’s friends? What about my promise to take my own art more seriously?

Thus, [url]www.artneverdies.com [/url]was born. A web-site to house and promote my musical projects past and present as well as a place to remember and share the memories of Tom Gallison. I have posted the lyrics and MP3’s of “A Portrait of the Artist” for whoever may be interested in them. You’ll also find an abundance of photos. If you’d like, send me yours–I’d be happy to post them.

http://joewilford.com/A%20Portrait%20of%20the%20Artist-Main.htm

Feel free to download, burn and share whatever you find on this site. It is my hope that whomever was touched by Tom will come to this site and share their stories, photos or whatever else they may have to share. Since visiting the brick-landscaped ‘T’ memorial is probably out of the question for most of Tom’s friends, I hope that the online bulletin board will grow with time into a Gallison memorial of its own.

Joe Wilford-2.07.06
 

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:39 pm

Hi Joe,
Well, here it is almost Tom’s birthday and I heard about your webpage from my mom and she said that it would be up and running around the time of his birthday. Of course I’m checking it out and the pictures are great. It makes me happy and sad at the same time to know how you felt about Tom and how you’re remembering him on this webpage. I miss Tom so much and think about him every day, and this forum is a great way to see how others may remember him. I have let my siblings know about this webpage, but now my only problem is getting my mom to view it since she does not have a computer and is pretty much house-bound. I have added this site to my “favorites” list and will be checking it from time to time. I hope all is well with you, Joe, and thank you for remembering Tom in a very special way.
Leslie, Tom’s sister

 

Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 10:05 pm Post subject: Tom remembered

I think this site is great – so glad I got a chance to view it tonight. Some may know me – Jean Petruccelli – former “Doowrag” resident. My first meeting with Tom was the first day of Kindergarten and I laughed all the way through High School with him. I hope to find some fun pictures of Tom and get them on this site to share with all of you.

Jeanpooh

 

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 2:05 pm Post subject:

Today would have been Tom’s 37th birthday, and I appreciate the poems as a tribute for today. Happy Birthday, Tom, we miss you!!!

Leslie

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 5:48 pm Post subject: Tom G.

Tom and I met our Freshman year of high school and remained friends ever since. In history class of our sophmore year (1985), with Ron Fernandez as our teacher we were paired up with another friend, Joe Mazzarella to do a bulletin board project in which Joe had an idea to do a film rather than a bulletin board … Tom and I liked the idea and went along with it. As it turned out Joe wound up getting an illness which kept him out of school for a few weeks, and Tom and I were left holding the video camera …

We went on to create a film called the Life and Times of Teddy Roosevelt. Those few weeks of making that film were some of the most memorable and enjoyable weeks of my adolescence. Tom was truly an artist, I never quite knew what to expect from one minute to the next, the stuff he came up with was ingenius. He then would edit the material using equipment from the stone ages (1983 cameras, vcr’s etc.), and the results were truly amazing. We went on to produce the Life and times of Richard M. Nixon, A tale of Two Boros … Tom created a series with Pete Kiriakatis, Brian Wyss, and Sam Simoes called “those 4 fellas” I believe Ron Fernandez was still showing the films in his classes as of a few years ago.

Since those filming days, I enjoyed going to see Tom act in plays where ever they may have been, and always thought to myself, that he would wind up playing in some major production on broadway someday. Or would have had some kind of BIG production role eventually … he was that creative!!!

Tom and I talked about doing another film , as recently as 3 weeks before his death. And like Joe I have a really hard time believing his death was a suicide. He had way too much stuff left to do, and way too much energy for his life to end that way.

I have never met you Joe, but am grateful to you for creating this site.

Dom Pascarella

 

 

 

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 10:33 pm Post subject: Tom I miss you pal

Tom and I grew up right near one another In Garwood, Growing up with Tom was a nice experince we shared a lot of the same intrests espically TV Guides Brady Bunch reruns Gilligans Island Uncle Floyd etc. I remember when Tom would tell me stories about the guys and there cars espically Joe Mazzarella and the beehive in his glove compartment in his Blazer I kind of found that hard to believe about the Bee hive in Joe Mazzarella’s truck because Joe’s sister Lisa is one of my best friends. Tom would never talk bad about anyone or anything Tom always spoke highly of me and Dom P. I still wonder how the hell Tom got Wally the Channel -mans head off the Giant. I would always stick up for my buddy Tom if the morons called him names I wont say and Tom always protected me and Jeff V. from bullies well Tommy I miss you buddy and book em dano

Scotty

 

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 12:12 pm Post subject:

Having known all of the Gallison family most of my 47 years, I can only try to imagine the pain they have borne.
My most vivid memories of Tom are as a small boy, and a baby during the time when Leslie was my best-est friend during high school.
He was ADORABLE! So sweet and fun to play with. I remeber when we were babysitting him one night when his Mom was out on one of her first dates with her soul mate, Bill. Tom had lost his ‘gully’ (for those who didn’t know him in diapers, a pacifier) Leslie sent me to Quik Chek to get him a Binky so he could go to bed.
Tom the man I didn’t know as well, life pushing people in different directions as it often does, but when I did see him his bright smile was so welcome and filled me with good memories.
The tragedy of his death is cannot be over-shadowed by the injustice of the Westfield police dept. insensitive, negligent handling of the investigation of the circumstances surronding it. I would think that the Gallison family might just be unable to bear the pain of thinking Tom would choose to depart this world in such violent manner had I not been privvy to some of the details of that sad night. Knowing what I know I realize that for whatever reason, this man did not recieve the dignity of an investigation but simply a convinient proclamation of suicide. Easy for the police but unbearable for all who knew & loved Tom Gallison, the baby, the child and the man.
Bless you, Tom and the beautiful loving people you touched in 31 short years.

Cheryl

 

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 12:42 pm Post subject:

I’ve been reading the posts about Tom and it brings back good memories. As Dom said, Tom had a lot more life to live, and he wanted to live it, and no matter what the medical examiner put on her report, Tom’s family and everyone who knew him knew better than the medical examiner. Either way, I know that Tom saved EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING! My mom told me once about her conversation with Tom where he stated he saved everything because when he was much, much older, he would have all this stuff to look at and remember everything.

Also, a note to Scott-was the Channel Man’s real name Wally? We just called him Channel Man. Anyway, this is how it happened that Tom got Channel Man. Channel (Lumber) had gone out of business and workers had dismantled Channel Man and left him on the ground. Somehow, Tom found out about this and rode his bike up there (I think he was around 12 or 13) and took the Channel Man’s head. I’m sure he would have taken the whole thing if he could have!!

Leslie

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 9:23 pm Post subject:

This has been a long 6 years.

Leslie


Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:43 am Post subject: greetings from the channel man


Today is my 38th birthday I was thinking about when I turned 7 or maybe it was 8 Tom came to my birthday party he gave me 2 Matchbox cars I know one was a Dune Buggy with a little man that jumped and down when it was pushed. The last few years I have a get together at Cranford hotel with friends this year was a first Brian Venezia came a hour with his young daughter just to be with me for my birthday Brian brought 2 class pictures to the dinner they brought back memories for me even though I was a year ahead of them Nicky Parente looks same I think Louie Rogakos was born with a moustache lol, I remember Tom liked to tease me about Kim Kolvek & Tracey Schmidt about them ”liking” me when they were in 8th grade I was a freshman well Gallison knew I was crazy for blondes. I have so many memories I can share about my adventures with Tom but I have to go now Book em danno

Scotty channel man

Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 7:01 pm Post subject: this site

I haven’t been on awhile so I decided to wander back. Of course, it doesn’t look like alot of people have been posting and it made me a little sad. But then I looked at how many times some posts have been viewed. Some have been viewed at most a total of 68, and that made me happy. Never forget Tom.

Leslie

Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 11:09 am Post subject: hi

I think back about all the memories and good times I Had with Tom at 524 fourth ave Garwood throught my childhood some of the things Tom & I did were totally off the wall like squeezing his mom’s beloved cat Kelly to make him pee and we also made my retarded cat Celerino pee as well other things Tom and I did were totally bizzare I would list them but theres too many to list I Wish Gallison was there for the videos I made in the spring summer of 1992 for example videoing my best friend Nicky Parente stopping celing fans with his head and the fan had to be on full blast for the tape

Scotty channel man

Sat Feb 25, 2006 8:36 am Post subject: I miss you old buddy

On the morning of Feburary 25th 2000 I was on my way to work on that day I heard New Jersey Transit trains on the Rartian Valley line were delayed. un aware what was the delay. As I walked into my home I did my usual Friday routines and right before dinner my telephone rang it was a girl who worked in a local used car lot the girl is a friend of my sisters she had told us the sad news about my pal Tom I couldnt really eat my dinner because of the sadness, after dinner I called a few friends to tell them the news one friend who I had called was friends with both me & Tom the friend had special needs I called his home his mom answered I was so choked up in tears about losing someone that was a big part of my life so his mom called him at work and the friend called me back both my buddy and I cried about the horrible thing. so I went out that night with friends and had a few beers and I had a shot of Tequila for Tom. on the next morning I took a walk to the retention basin most of the guys girls my age called it the pit and older kids called it Martha’s vineyard. so I walked back to the place where Tom and had our fort where we made a little town for our Matchbox and Hot wheels, I stood it that spot for about 20 minutes in tears and to this day I never return to that spot. I cant think of a friend who can replace Tom, Tom was kind gentle friendly always smiling making corny jokes and everytime I went in to King’s Tom would say ”Hey Scotty what’s up today”? he always waited for me to say Sun Moon stars car insurance. Tom like me was a pack rat left handed. Tom and I saved everything from Tv guides to movie star obituaries I think Tom had Herman Munsters obituary I know for a fact that he had Jackie Coogan’s,Alan Hale jr’s Robert Reeds to name few. I remember Tom tried to ”hook” me up with a girl who worked in King’s not saying who but I remember she was cute. Book em Dano till we meet again

Scotty

Tue Mar 07, 2006 11:25 am Post subject: Alan Hale, Jr

Ha! Yes, Tom did save obits. I remember Tom and I were in Maine when Alan Hale, Jr died. I was on break from college and, like the year before, Tom and I drove up to Maine to stay at Rich’s (his brother) place.

I remember putting the obit on the mailbox so the mailman would be aware that the Skipper died. It wasn’t my idea to do it, of course, it was Tom’s. We have it on videotape, too. Tom was laughing the whole time… I’m willing to bet I was annoyed by it… but just thinking about it now cracks me up.

Cousin Bob

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 4:40 pm Post subject: channel lumber

someone asked in another post how tom got the head of the channel lumberman?

after i saw the incredible steuben episode where the channel lumberman co-stars i asked tom that question. he explained it was being taken down and he drove by channel lumber one day and happened to see it on the side of the road. in some sort of construction mess. so of course he pulled over and put it in his car, bringing it home. ok. thanks tom for the explanation….

a couple years after he died i bought the latest issue of weird nj at vintage vinyl in fords. i was thumbing through it before driving home and was stunned to see a picture of tom with the channel lumberman’s head. and stranger still next to the picture was a letter (was it from tom? steuben? mr channel lumber? i can’t remember and i’m sure the issue was lost when i moved out of nj)…

i wondered if somehow… no.. not possible…. not even houdini could pull off a trick like that…

it didn’t matter.. tom is the only person i’ve ever known who could pull off such a trick from beyond the grave. i remember he used to always honk and frantically wave to me when he’d see my walking around westfield on lunch break from work. and i’d do the same when the situation was reversed and he’d be the one walking around westfield.

according to mapquest, i live 1662.75 miles from westfield. yet, i still look for tom when i’m driving around here. and, of course, the head of the channel lumberman.

Rich

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:17 pm Post subject

That’s exactly how Tom got the Channel man’s head, except, I was told, he brought it home on his bicycle since he wasn’t driving yet. Tom enjoyed many years “playing” with the Channel man, and Channel man is still somewhere in NJ.

Leslie

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:43 pm Post subject:

No Rich, that was no Houdini-like kind of trick. That was Tom’s family who put his pic in Weird NJ. We thought it would be something he would like.

Leslie

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:25 pm Post subject: Tom’s many talents

No doubt about it, Tom was talented. A few months before he passed away, he had photographs of himself professionally taken called head shots. I understand he was planning to go to Broadway auditions, therefore he needed the head shots. Of course, he never got to do that, but he did perform in 2 off-off Broadway shows, the last one in December of 1999 called “An Unromantic Comedy” (I believe) and of course he was great. I believe if he had the chance, he would have been in a Broadway show-he was that talented!

Leslie

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 4:53 pm Post subject: The Day Duane Larson Walked into a Bus

Duane Larson’s birthday is 2/11. Tom’s is 2/12. In honor of both of them I thought I’d post a song Tom wrote about a mishap that befell Duane while working at Newark Airport for a rental car company. It is a classic example of Tom immortalizing in song the experiences of his friends.

The Day Duane Larson Walked into a Bus

Duane that silly goof
Even Gilligan couldn’t pull off this farce in
A million years but our friend Larson
Took just twenty steps

He didn’t have a dime
But the insurance wouldn’t cover this weird malady
And unfortunately even William Bradley
Couldn’t help out this time

He went broke
Drank himself into a stupor
And when he awoke
He was a member of Congress
Ran on the ticket with Tsangas
Rose to fame in the Iowa run-off
And took the reins when Paul kicked off

The economy collapsed
And everyone knew just who to blame
Cause things just haven’t been the same
Since Duane Larson
Walked into a bus

Joe

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:09 pm Post subject: A Quote: 228 East 1st Ave, Roselle, NJ 1988

I let Tom into the front entrance to the apartment building I lived in. (You couldn’t just buzz someone in at this place.) He looked at the rows of mailboxes lining the wall and pointed to one, laughing.

“You live next to someone named ‘Buttery?’ Who is next door, ‘Creamy?’”

I never again entered that lobby without looking at Miss Buttery’s mailbox without chuckling to myself.

I miss those intricate observations.

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:56 pm Post subject:

Thinking of crazy stuff Tom did brings to mind…..
Every time the family got together when my boys were much younger, Tom had my youngest son Joe do a certain scenario for the video camera. I’m trying to think when it started or how it started but I just can’t remember although Joe was quite young when it started. I guess Tom thought Joe looked a little like Lee Harvey Oswald, so Tom had Joe re-enact the assasination of President Kennedy. Joe had lines he had to recite and Tom would film him, always under different circumstances. The lines were always the same: “Hi. I’m Lee Harvey Oswald and I shot President Kennedy like this”. After that, anything would happen. Joe would either fall down, laugh, or start dancing. Imagine my surprise when, after Tom died, I started watching all of his videos one by one, and eventually came across a tape where Tom had all the “Lee Harvey Oswald” bits put together and I could watch my son Joe grow up while “playing” Lee Harvey Oswald. It was a little sad to see after the last one that Tom left about 15 minutes of blank tape for future “Lee Harvey Oswald” bits. We miss you Tom!!!

Leslie

Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 7:22 pm Post subject: so many

There are so many moments in all the Steuben shows. How can anyone pick just one, or two, hmmm….or three…. I don’t remember which one it was, but I laughed so much in the one where Steuben hits his head on the overhead pipe and goes trick-or-treating in February (or March). The man answering the door in reply to Steuben’s gleeful cry for treats is “It’s February (or March) you nitwit”, then slams the door. What a classic! Or the one with Flying Steuben. Who else but Steuben would fly and shave at the same time?! Check out his facial hair in that episode-it’s always changing!

Leslie

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 5:03 pm Post subject:

The dog that turned to stone in the “On location” episode in main.

The cat that came out of the television set.

The clapper hat scenes.

Joe

Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:50 pm Post subject: The mystery surrounding Tom’s death

I don’t wish to be morbid–or dwell on negativity, that’s not really the focus of this forum. However I feel like the facts of Tom’s untimely passing need to be shared for those who aren’t privy to the details–no matter how painful. This is my account from what I gathered via Tom’s Mother. The letter below was sent out to friends of mine back in late 2000.

To the Gallison family: If there are inaccuracies–please let me know so I can correct them.

This is a bit long so print and read at your leisure….

All--

I just received a Christmas card from Tom’s mother. She sent a picture of the stone that was just recently placed in Fairview. It is fairly large, black and inscribed simply: TOM GALLISON —-FEB 1969 ~FEB 2000. In the lower right corner: STEUBEN with a little star next to it. They sent one of his headshots to an artist who made a sketch and somehow they imprinted the drawing into the stone above Tom’s name. It looks remarkably like a photograph. She plans on putting some of the remains there and the rest in the garden in their back yard, where Tom used to work sometimes.

To update everybody about what has gone on the past 6 months, here is a recap to what has been a very long, tedious, frustrating and painful ordeal for the Gallison family.

As I think you all know, Tom’s death certificate lists the cause of death as “suicide.” I think the majority of us believe this to be inaccurate to say the least. The Gallison family has been trying to get the Union County Medical Examiner to change this to “undetermined” or perhaps, “death by misadventure.” They have as of yet been unsuccessful.

Now it’s certainly easy for many to say “Changing it is not going to bring Tom back. What does it matter?” Well it matters to Tom’s family, most especially his mother. That’s enough of a reason for me to want to get this done and hopefully you too.

The principal of the matter is at stake here and that lies in more than just the fact that Tom’s death will contribute to an already inaccurate statistic. It lies mostly in the fact that this tragic occurrence was unprofessionally and improperly handled from top to bottom. It was treated as casually and routinely as if there are people killed by trains in Westfield every week.

Police Lieutenant John Parizeau on the scene checked the little white box next to ‘suicide’ as a probable cause of death. This was upheld by the Union County Medical Examiner Ms. Linares (she wishes to be called, DOCTOR, please), who based her decision on a combination of medical (ahem) facts and testimony. For those who did not get a chance to see the medical examiners report, here is a short run-down of some of DOCTOR Linares’ findings.

1) Deceased had no traces of Marijuana, cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, barbiturates, or a hundred thousand other drugs too long to list here.

2) Deceased had a beard.

3) Deceased stomach contents contained alcohol.

4) Deceased urine sample was clear, indicating that he had been drinking alcohol.

5) Deceased had a blood-alcohol content of .10

6) Deceased had no known medical condition.

If you find numbers 2 and 6 unbelievable then you are right, because they simply aren’t true. If you find numbers 2 and 6 unbelievable, then you are just feeling an nth of the amazement the Gallison family has felt for almost a year now. Amazed that a medical examiner could call herself DOCTOR and come back with such a glaringly incomplete, inaccurate and amateur report as this. You might also expect to see “Deceased was dead” somewhere among these other’s mentioned above.

Dr. Linares, the Union County Medical Examiner, also took into consideration a written statement by one Nora Pellegrino, the woman Tom was having a relationship with. In Nora’s statement, she states that Tom was a chronic alcoholic and drank every day. Her description of the events that night were taken down word for word and believed by both Dr. Linares and the Police.

Facts on Nora:
Married, two kids, husband knew about her relationship with Tom and supposedly didn’t mind. They had (quote)”An open relationship” (end quote). History of mental illness, and hospitalized within days of Tom’s death. The police/detectives interviewed Nora and her husband, and despite the sensitive nature of Nora’s mental health and the blatant possibilities for foul play in this scenario, they believed her story and everything she said about Tom.

The police had told Tom’s mother they identified him by his driver’s license photo. In reality, Nora identified the body that day. Tom’s parents were never told this. Yet another inconsistency in a case that seems like it was destined to be swept under the rug from the beginning. In hindsight, it appears the police were deliberately withholding information. Tom’s mother didn’t know Nora was even involved until Nora called her from the hospital 4 days later.

Why the police were withholding all this from the Gallison family, I don’t know. (I’m not a big Hill Street Blues, fan) Maybe they had their reasons, but certainly at some point they could have come forth with all the facts, rather than let the family discover these things on their own. In general, the police have treated the Gallisons as though they needed to be “spared” details on the incident, as if they would feel better being kept in the dark. All of this is assuming that the Westfield police even knew what they were doing, which frankly, is also questionable.

Tom’s mother Dorothy happened to read Nora’s statement and find out about Nora identifying the body, only after Dr. Linares offered to let her see the statement in an effort to convince her that this was a suicide. Nora’s statement is, in fact, the reason Dr. Linares did not and apparently will not change the cause of death. It is absolutely preposterous for a decision like this to be based on the testimony of one person. There is no note, no proof that Tom had any intention of killing himself. We only have Nora’s word. She says he left a message on her answering machine saying something that might lead one to believe Tom would do such a thing, however that message was conveniently erased.

I am not trying to discredit Nora, nor imply that she is directly responsible for Tom’s death. I am merely bringing to light that in this investigation there was not a lot of investigating done. From the Keystone cops of Westfield, to the ramblings of a State Detective named Cassidy (whose seemingly sole function and contribution to the case was to repeatedly interview Tom’s mother over coffee every couple of days), to the painfully absurd findings of Dr. Linares; this case was treated as though it took place in a small town where nothing bad ever happens. (Maybe suicides, but no (god -forbid) accidents or (gasp) homicides.)

Mary Wilford, (my mother) has been involved with this in that she initiated a letter along with one from Tom’s family, to an elected official, namely Assemblyman Richard Bagger requesting more information as to the conclusions that were made about Tom’s death. Only after many letters and months of going back and forth on this issue, did Dr. Linares finally agree to talk to Tom’s Mother. She did so, and after relating much of the above mis-information (and realizing her incompetence meter was steadily rising for all to see) she requested to speak with Mary instead. Her intention was to convince Mary of Tom’s suicide and let her be the one to convince Dorothy. Let it be noted that Dr. Linares had the audacity to say that Tom’s mother was “in denial” of her son’s suicide because she was so grief-stricken and should seek counseling.

Mary found Dr. Linares adamant that Tom committed suicide. The doctor showed her Nora’s statement as “proof”. Mary explained that people close to Tom found it difficult to believe that Tom would ever commit suicide, least of all under circumstances such as these. Why should one person’s slant on Tom be the deciding factor on the cause of death? Were there not other possibilities? Perhaps a bizarre accident as Tom often wandered around at night on the train tracks. (We all know this to be true of Tom.) Or perhaps his diabetes played some part in this tragedy. At any rate there is enough doubt lingering about to simply say: “We don’t know what happened that night.” But police and doctors don’t like to admit to such a thing as “not knowing”. They must know, because they are professionals and they never make mistakes. They have seen a hundred cases just like this one, it’s always the same.

Mary inquired who would be hurt if indeed they decided to change the cause of death to “undetermined.” Would the Lieutenant’s clean record be at stake? Would he be reprimanded, assigned desk work, his reputation shattered? No. Would Dr. Linares lose her (I can’t believe I’m even writing the word in the same sentence) credibility? No. Mary then pointed out that while changing it would not hurt anyone, it would help the Gallison family. Dr. Linares responded: “We don’t want to change it because we don’t believe we are wrong.”

Contrary to the medical examiners report, Tom did have a known medical condition. Tom had diabetes. His blood – sugar content was not tested by Dr. Linares when she conducted the autopsy. In August, at the family’s request she finally did run the test. Normal blood sugar content is 100 – 120. Tom’s blood sugar came back as 10.

The Gallison family had their own toxicologist examine that report. He said that in his estimation Tom was near comatose at the time of his death.

The conductor of the train said Tom was lying face-down, and only raised his head slightly when the train horn sounded. A friend of mine was a paramedic for many years in Eastern Iowa and Chicago, and was called to the scenes of numerous cases whereby victims committed suicide by jumping or stepping in front of a train. He never saw one case where a victim lay on the tracks and waited for one.

Tom nearly drowned in the summer of 1999 when while swimming in the ocean, his blood sugar dipped so low he hadn’t the strength to swim. Fortunately, his brother was near enough to pull him to safety.

All these things add up to this: A terrible tragedy occurred early morn February 25th, 2000 in Westfield, New Jersey. We don’t know the specifics of what happened and most likely never will. The only thing that is clear is that we don’t know what happened. For this reason, the cause of Tom’s death should be simply: “undetermined.”

Here’s where you come in. While Dr. Linares is the enemy, she also wields the power to make this change. She may not have much of a conscience, but the only reason she has not slammed the door shut on this case is because the Gallison family has been so relentless in their pursuit to get this accomplished. I believe she will change the cause of death if she is called out on the carpet.

I am asking each one of you to read this and decide if it matters enough to you to take some time out and write a letter, send an email, make a phone call. If you believe that Dr. Linares is justified in her decision, that is okay. But if you are not certain that Tom Gallison committed suicide, then you need to make your voice heard.

Again, this may seem like a trivial matter to you. We all lost a dear friend. There’s no getting him back. But it’s no trivial matter to Tom’s mother. Changing this will go a long way towards healing the wounds caused by the pain, frustration and anger of all this, on top of losing a son, a feeling not one of us can imagine.

A word on correspondence to Dr. Linares. Be polite, but firm and to the point. We are not going to get anywhere bashing her as I have done in this little diatribe, as much as she deserves it. Below is her mailing address, phone number, and email address. The email goes to her secretary who insured me she will pass it along.

Attn: Dr. Linares
Office of Medical Examiner
300 North Ave East
Westfield, NJ 07090

908 654 9893

rslavin@unioncountynj.orgpeace.joePosted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 10:54 pm Post subject:I found this when, after talking with another friend regarding odd deaths, I decided to look to see if anything had ever been found about Tommy’s death.I grew up with him, from the time we were in second grade, until we graduated high school. Two weeks before he died, he’d called me at my parents’ home, but I was waiting on a call from my husband (who was working in Japan at the time) and never called Tommy back. I regret that now, terribly so.

It would be nice to know what really happened – he and I had talked about his diabetes (no known medical condition – huh?) the last time I had seen him while I was in NJ.

Has anything else been found or are they letting this entire case rest now?

Dana T

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 4:52 pm Post subject:

DanaT–

Unfortunately this case was closed fifteen minutes after it hit the coroner’s desk. The Union County Medical Examiners office stands by their blatantly inconclusive findings and have refused to consider further investigation into Tom’s death.

Joe

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:52 pm Post subject:

Joe,

The first thing that popped in my head when I heard the news about Tom, was that there was some kind of foul play. I knew of the relationship he had and thought to myself that it could lead to something bad.

Reading what is written here at least confirms my gut feeling.

Dom

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 4:41 pm Post subject:

Dom,

Yes, and because of the lack of effort on the part of the powers that be namely the Westfield Police department / Union County Medical Examiner all we’ll ever have are ‘gut feelings.’ I dread that yours are shared by many of us.

Thanks for posting.

joe



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