Thomas Ashe Simpson

Obituary: Thomas Ashe Simpson, born October 22, 1917, to Henry John and Catharine Tierney Simpson in New York City, Tom died at his home on December 21, 2015, not long after his 98th birthday. The son of Irish immigrants, he was second in a family of five children, and he grew up in the Great Depression in New York City. There he attended technical night schools after high school, while working as an errand boy at one of the greatest research facilities in the world, Bell Laboratories. At the beginning of World War II, he was refused entry into the Army because he was already working for Curtiss-Wright Aircraft Company, designing propellers for warplanes. He met his future wife, Rebecca Beasley, at Curtiss-Wright, where she had joined other mathematically inclined women in the war effort. They were married in 1945, then in 1948 they moved with two children to Concord. There he would help manage the family business, Beasley-Cross Chevrolet in Kannapolis, and they would start a new life down South. Tom was an unusual mix of independent adventurer and responsible servant. As a teenager, he climbed to the top of the George Washington Bridge, which was under construction at the time, and almost fell 600 feet to his death; as a young pilot, he crash-landed his plane into a New Jersey cornfield; as a newlywed, he took his wife and two children away from his familiar neighborhoods into the South, which did not appreciate Yankees or Roman Catholics. Yet at the same time he spent much of his life working for others. As a teenager, he worked weekends in a butcher shop to get paid in pork chops for his family's table; after he married, he designed and personally helped build the 1500-square-foot home in Concord where he and Becky raised seven children and countless pets; he built and maintained a backyard playground, pool, and tennis court for his children; he designed and oversaw construction of an addition to Becky's parents' home; he fashioned and maintained a Lake Norman getaway on a shoestring budget, and kept boats and water toys there for his family. In addition to his contrasting qualities as a risk-taking servant, he had remarkable skills as a leader and manager, an architect, a woodworker, a mechanic, a draftsman, a storyteller, a cartoonist and a jokester. Intelligent, quick-tempered yet fast to laugh, and fiercely independent, he was, as his Hospice nurse Sharon said, a "man's man". He was a Father that struck fear or joy into the lives of his seven children, depending on what they had done that day. When he returned from work each day, they would either jump on his back for a pony ride or scurry away into a corner of the house. He inspired them all to take risks for fun and gain, but also to be responsible for their actions. Jim, Pat, Mike, Kevin (Buzz), Jean, Bob, and Joe are all still living under his influence, and each of them remembers a wonderful Dad. He loved Becky dearly, and he missed her every day since her death almost 7 years ago. His 18 grandchildren, 6 great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews survive him. He is the last of his four brothers and sisters to die, The family will be visiting with friends from 5 to 7 pm on Friday, January 1, at Whitley's Funeral Home, 1748 Dale Earnhardt Blvd, Kannapolis, NC 28083. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, 108 St. Joseph Street, Kannapolis, NC, on Saturday, January 2, at 10:00 am, followed by a family-only interment ceremony elsewhere. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorials be sent to Hospice and Palliative Care of Cabarrus County, 5003 Hospice Lane, Kannapolis, NC 28081 or to Cabarrus Meals on Wheels, 1701 S Main St, Kannapolis, NC 2808. Online condolences may be left at www.whitleysfuneralhome.com
Visitation: 5:00 to 7:00 PM Friday January 1, 2016 Whitley's Funeral Home

Service: Memorial Mass 10:00 AM Saturday January 2, 2016 St. Joseph's Catholic Church

Interment: Private