June 18 will never be the same again for the friends and family of Thomas Elliott.

Just days before, the retired Eastern professor was laughing and having fun with friends visiting from California; he seemed healthy and vibrant, ready to take on whatever came his way. He ate lunch with them and never lost his contagious joyful spirit. He cracked jokes and was the life of the party.

A few days later, while going about his normal business, Elliot suddenly collapsed on the floor at home from a heart attack. His wife, Betty, and friends rushed him to Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center hoping he would make it through. After Betty and friends waited for what seemed like eternity, the doctors came to the waiting room saying Elliott died. He was 78 years old.

Elliott may have passed on, but his spirit remains in everything and everyone he was a part of. Family and friends chose to celebrate his life rather than mourn his death.

Elliot will be remembered for the amount of service he and his wife did for the community and the Wesley United Methodist Church.

Rosalie Addison, an employee for the church, praised the work Elliott has done for the church. He was involved in an adult ministry program and has been involved with a men’s breakfast group for 30 years, said Addison. He was one of the first members and remained with the program every week until he died. She also said Elliott and Betty were in charge of the adult Sunday school classes.

“He did whatever needed to be done,” said Addison. “If he could do it he would. He was a really amazing guy.”

June Cooper and her husband George have been friends with the Elliott family since 1962, when George came to Eastern as the new head of the department for Business Education. Both George Cooper and Elliot worked as faculty in the Business Education department and both headed it at different times. They were both also members of the State Association, and they both serves as president of the organization at different times. But what June Cooper really remembers Elliot for is his generosity.

“He would see things that people needed help with and he’d do it,” said Cooper. “Take us for example. We [her and her husband] were both having health problems and neither of us could drive. So one day Betty and Tom drive us out to the cemetery so we can visit our child who died. They were always doing things like that for us.”

“We’re going to miss him,” continues Cooper. “He meant a lot to us, to Eastern and to the State Association. He will be missed.”

Abdoulaye Traore, a junior finance major from Africa, met Elliott and his wife about three years ago when he moved to Eastern. They met through the Wesley United Methodist Church, and when the Elliots found out he needed a place to stay, they opened their home to him. Though Traore only lived with them for one year, he never really left. He became a part of their family.

Traore and Elliott had a special relationship. Traore saw “a wise man, a mentor, a confidant and a father” in Elliot.

“He was like a father because he took care of me,” said Traore. “He was a counselor. I would go to him with a problem, and we would talk about it like a father and son would.”

Through Traore’s eyes, the best way to describe Elliott was funny yet extremely wise.

“Whenever I think about Tom, I smile because he was really funny. He would sometimes crack jokes, and other times, it was just the way he said things,” said Traore.

“He was [also] a very wise man,” continued Traore. “He had so many experiences about life, what life is, as well as intellectually mature.”

Elliott’s daughter, Beth, has many fond memories of her father. She remembers long family vacations each spring break and summer vacation while growing up, her father’s love of history, his love of sports, especially college basketball, and his inability to play them and his love of Eastern.

“He loved Eastern,” said Beth. “He was loyal to it and liked the size of it. He was a professor that liked having contact with his students. Nothing too big and Eastern is student oriented. He really liked that.”

Elliott taught at Eastern for 24 years, from 1960- 1964 and again from 1969-1989. During his five-year absence from Eastern, he taught at Fullerton Junior College in California, but he missed Eastern and wanted to return. In 1983, he was awarded the most distinguished professor award from Eastern.

During her years at Eastern, Beth Elliot remembers spending time in her father’s office and seeing how he was at work.

“When I went to Eastern I lived on campus,” she said, “but between classes I would hang out in his office. I would see how he reacted with the students. He would leave his door always open because he said he always had time for people.”

She also said that Elliott was very family oriented. He met Betty while in the Air Force, and they were married a year after he got out. They were married for 53 years, and have two children, one son and one daughter, two granddaughters and one adopted son.

For those who knew Thomas Elliot, June 18 will never be the same again. The day is forever a reminder for friends, family and Eastern of the special person they have lost. Parties and family get-togethers will never be the same because there will be that feeling that someone is missing. That would be the lively spirit of Thomas Elliott; father, mentor and friend.