Tom Marquardt
Though his work schedule has kept him away from meetings and most activities of the Council, Tom's contribution to the fraternity has been considerable.  He was recruited to the Knights of Columbus around age 25 by a school teacher he knew by the name of John Karczek.  That was quite a number of years ago, and Tom became a part of the Council at Seymour, eventually serving for a couple of years as Financial Secretary.  He recalls his former Council as being an older Council, not only in that it has been established for a long time, but also that the average age of members is a good deal higher than at Council 10243.  As may happen in such Councils, younger members sometimes didn't last too long.  He can't remember clearly if he held any other offices in the Council, but his training as Financial Secretary came in handy when Dan McLaughlin assumed the same Office for our Council in 1990, shortly after our Council was formed.  Tom spent countless hours with Dan, passing on the information that Dan would need to handle the responsibility of the position.  Tom's father was also a member of the Knights. 

A charter member of Council 10243, Tom's 'behind the scenes' work also included recruiting Rick Noe.  However, except for the occasional opportunity to be a part of a Tootsie Roll drive, he's been unable to become anything like a familiar face at functions of the Council.  That's because Tom has worked as a truck driver for Com-Way Central Express for about sixteen years now.  That job has him going in to work around 6:00 PM every evening.  Spending the legal amount of time working (the DOT allows sixty hours per week), he often ends up not getting home until about twelve or more hours later.  His route might involve hauling a double trailer down the road to the usual destination of Gary, Indiana and then returning to Green Bay.  Then, of course, there's loading and unloading the cargo and other responsibilities.  By the time he gets home he really doesn't want to do much else besides sleep.  He enjoys his job, especially the fact that he can pretty much be his own boss and make his own decisions.  On the other hand he admits that after twenty-six years of driving a truck, when he and his wife Mary go on vacation or even head to church, she has to do the driving because he's tired of being behind the wheel.  One of the benefits of the job is that he manages to get home every day.  The company is also very safety-oriented--if a driver exceeds speed limits they will find out and the driver will be disciplined.  He hauls most anything for the company and hopes to be thinking about retirement in about six years.  On the occasions when he can do something other than drive, he enjoys hunting and fishing. 

Tom is a convert to the Catholic Faith, becoming a part of the Church when he married his wife, Mary.  They have been together for thirty-one years now and have four children--two boys and two girls, all in the area.  They have one grandchild so far.  Mary works out of their home in a tax and accounting business.  She also serves on the County Board.  When they came to Green Bay about fourteen years ago they looked at some thirty houses on the west side in one day and found nothing they liked.  They looked at one house on the east side and started moving in, though both their sets of parents thought they were crazy.  Nearly every part of the house has undergone renovation and they do much of the design work themselves.  Mary is also trained in landscaping and their garden is something to behold. 

Tom's contribution to the Council is a reminder of the unseen efforts that often are needed to enable things to run smoothly.  We appreciate all he's done and look forward to getting to know him better in the future. 

April 2002