Thomas Zitver

Profile Updated: September 16, 2010
My Nick Name:

Buzz

I am not planning to attend the 50th Reunion:

I hope you '69ers have a good time without me!

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Diane Gallop has left an In Memory comment for Thomas Zitver.
Jun 27, 2020 at 8:44 AM


 

I knew Tom as a family friend.  I have wonderful memories of his siblings and mine piling into the back of his parents' station wagon after a meal to go to High's for ice cream, among others that now seem an idyllic dream.  Tom had an indelible presence and a face so sympatico, full of depth and barely suppressed humor, forever etched in my memory.  He seemed an old soul, possessed of inner authority.  He was a kind, sweet person, a rare find.  I can only imagine that the pain he experienced from bone cancer was agonizing.


 

Diane Gallop has left an In Memory comment for Thomas Zitver.
Jun 27, 2020 at 8:44 AM


 

I knew Tom as a family friend.  I have wonderful memories of his siblings and mine piling into the back of his parents' station wagon after a meal to go to High's for ice cream, among others that now seem idyllic dreams.  Tom had an indelible presence and a face so simpatico, full of depth and barely suppressed humor, forever etched in my memory.  He seemed an old soul, possessed of inner authority.  He was a kind, sweet person, a rare find.  I can only imagine that the pain he experienced from bone cancer was agonizing.


 

Thomas Zitver has been added to In Memory.
Jun 23, 2020 at 8:54 PM
Leland Gamson has left an In Memory comment for Thomas Zitver.
Jun 21, 2020 at 6:41 PM

     In third grade Tom moved to Bannockburn, and we became close friends. We would compete, in his house, to see who could build the highest wood block tower, before it came tumbling down. When our world expanded, we biked to Glen Echo shopping center. We enjoyed finding bottles, to cash in at High's (now a Seven Eleven). We rarely failed to find enough glass bottles to exchange for ice cream cones. At two scoops for a nickel, our expeditions were self funded. If we found larger bottles, we would buy Superman comics for a dime. By the time the comics went for 15 cents, we outgrew them. That didn't stop us from checking out the Chris Reeve's Superman movies, together in our early adulthood. Yes, we agreed that Christopher Reeve's, got the "real Superman" character, right. After all, we were experts on Superman.

      As we progressed through elementary school, we were exposed to a broader world. I have fresh memories of Tom taking a keen interest in the Greeks, Romans, Vikings and the Mercury space flights. I still remember argueing with him, about who contributes more to space flight, the astronauts or rocket engineers. We would frequently spend the night at each other's house. We both got along well with each other's siblings. Tom saw the Twilight Zone, for the first time at the Gamson house. He agreed that it was more than just a modern "scarry show", as it had a Spiritual theme.

     At twelve, I got a poodle puppy, Flip. He followed us on our romps through Bannockburn. Now, we were three, and Tom and I would take turns "speaking" for Flip. We agreed Flip was the cutest dog on the planet. At Whitman, we were both active participants in the John Peter Altgeld Society. We listened to, and asked questions of, a wide variety of speakers. We grappled with concepts, such as World Federalism, gender roles, the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, the threat of totalitarianism, and the purpose of higher education. In 1964 and 1966, we voluntered in the campaigns of Royce Hanson and Spellman for Congress. The latter was an early "peace" candidate.

     Both of us went to college in the Midwest, to experience a different region of the US. Tom went to Grinnel in Iowa, majoring in math. He taught math for a year, in a private high school. This surprised me, because  he was an introvert. When he discovered that most his students did not share his enthuaism for math, he became an actuary. For a few years, he lived in Bannockburn, and communited by bike, to his office at the OPM. After I left the the D.C. area, I would meet him for lunch, when back in town. We solved the world's problems, as we did, when members of the John Peter Altgeld Society. When in early middle age, I took my wife, Bonnie, to see Tom's boyhood home and meet his mother. Tom lived in an apartment on Capitol Hill for years and years. It was there that he died. He never told me about his cancer.

   Randy Alcorn, wrote a book simply entitled, "Heaven". He says that there are extroverts, who will spend eternity, in the inner court of Elohim's Celestial Kingdom. They will thrive in a place with bright colors and music, enjoying the company of multitudes. Others, who are by nature introverts, will be at home in the most outer parts of Heaven. There, their home is one of blissfull solitude. They are content with the company of just a few. Tom is among the latter. Tom, give my regards to your mother, father and, our forever cute, dog  pal, Flip.

Leland Gamson

 

 

Thomas Zitver has a birthday today.
Jan 22, 2020 at 4:33 AM
Thomas Zitver has a birthday today.
Jan 22, 2019 at 4:33 AM
Thomas Zitver has a birthday today.
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Thomas Zitver has a birthday today.
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Thomas Zitver has a birthday today.
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Thomas Zitver has a birthday today.
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