Thomas William Rothlisberger 7/27/1958 - 2/26/2025 Thomas

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Jul. 26—Thomas William Rothlisberger 7/27/1958 — 2/26/2025 Thomas William Rothlisberger was born to William and Harriet Rothlisberger in Aza Kuwae Chatan-Son, Okinawa, Japan on July 27, 1958. As a dependent Air Force son to a fighter pilot, Tom moved around a bit. First a move to Roswell, New Mexico in 1960, Madison, Wisconsin in 1962, El Paso, Texas in 1963, Iruma, Japan in 1965, Fort Worth Texas in 1968, and finally a move to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1971, saw Thomas graduate Cibola High School in 1976. Although graduating with Ivy League grades, his parents insisted on the local, University of New Mexico, where he studied Astrophysics, (having his mind set on becoming an astronaut), and also pursued mechanical engineering and economics. On July 1, 1986, Tom was commissioned as a Navigator in the United States Air Force. His father did the swearing in. In May 1985 he moved to Lubbock, Texas for USAF Pilot Training at Reece, AFB. In May 1986, as a 2nd Lieutenant, Tom moved to Sacramento, CA for USAF Navigation training. He became a Navigator for the 345th Tactical Airlift Squadron and moved to Fussa, Tokyo, Japan in 1987. There he continued his love affair with Japan that he started as a boy. He was indeed, "The Boy Who Loved Japan Too Much". In his free time he would ride subways, bicycles, trains, and even a hydrofoil to visit and explore Japan, eating soy sauce squid on a stick, and looking through bins of anime cels, listening to City Pop, and searching out radio parts and electronics. He was in love with it all. After his tour in Japan, he was stationed in Fayetteville, North Carolina and took an early retirement in 1993. He had been a navigator on Lockheed C-130 cargo transport (5-man crew) which operated in 37 countries, and on 5 continents. Tom moved to Seattle, Washington starting a job at The Boeing Company as an Aerospace Manufacturing Engineer with an official start date of July 1997. During this time he rode the Seattle to Portland bike race, (a race of 206 miles), for a consecutive 11 years. He had a love of radio that all started as a kid in Japan. For over 20 years he was an avid Ham Radio enthusiast and DXer. He surfed the radio waves in the wee hours of the morning of the high cliffs near Manzanita, Oregon with fellow DXer Gary Debock, & with Nick Hall-Patch and fellow DXers at Grayland, Washington. His radio website: https://www.qsl.net/k7wv/index.htm. Tom was also an avid Geocacher for over 20 years with affiliation to the Geocachers of Washington and also the Albuquerque Geocachers. He loved to travel, and every travel would involve daily geocaching. He has visited all of the 50 states, some many times over; Alaska was a favorite, where the last vacation as a four family unit took place in Anchorage. He has visited almost all of the Canadian Provinces, and many countries around the world. His favorite city of all time was Tokyo, but he studied all cities and knew where all the skyscrapers and tallest buildings were from a very early age. He absolutely loved to go to the top of any tall building to get an eagle eye view. Tom, as a young boy in Japan was a member of the Webelos where he and his Father created a 1st place go-cart. Later he joined the Cub Scouts. And, while living in Ft. Worth, Texas, and still a young boy, Tom attended a lens grinding class for telescopes at the local astronomy club. He had a love of the stars and throughout his life was an amateur astronomer attending many a "Star Party" where others also brought their telescopes away from city lights to gaze at the heavens. He saw the solar eclipse in Madras, Oregon on August 21, 2017 and on October 14, 2023 saw the next solar eclipse in Texas with a great friend, co-Boeing worker, and brother-in-arms, Mark Grantham, who was also at his side when he left the earth. Tom retired from The Boeing Company on October 2, 2020, where he was an Electrical Corrective Action Team member rapidly resolving electrical problems on the 767,777,777X, and 787 aircraft during factory production. Tom is survived by his mother Harriet Rothlisberger, and his sister Suzanne Rothlisberger. He also is survived by cousins on his father's side and on his mothers side; his Aunt and Uncle, Connie, and Jim Robertson, and their children, who he was closest to; Jasenn, Jenns, Kellee, and Stefoni. Thomas William Rothlisberger will be interred in Santa Fe National Cemetery, New Mexico, on his birthday July 27th, 2025 where his father William O. Rothlisberger was buried in 2022.