Thomas Aaron Entzminger

A Celebration of Life

Thomas Aaron Entzminger

January 8, 1926 - December 14, 2019

Thomas ""Tom"" Entzminger had a brilliant mind, a heart of gold, and a love of God that propelled him through his life like a man before his time. He was devoted to his family and his community with a passion and selflessly answered God's call to serve on many fronts. His life is a witness to his humility and his love.

Tom was the second of three children born to Thomas Aaron Entzminger, Sr. and Edith Wickfield in Jamestown, New York. His father, a horticulturist who had a greenhouse and an orchard, also was a postman who delivered mail to Lucille Ball. His mother, an accomplished gospel musician, taught him the Godly values that guided his life for 93 years.

A Brilliant Mind

In high school, he played violin and sports - a creative dichotomy he continued into college. At Virginia State College (now University), he was chosen captain of the football team in the 1940s and at the same time was a popular honor student who excelled in physics and mathematics. At Virginia State he fell in love with Mahala Jackson and when they graduated, they married and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where they raised four children - Thomas, Annette, Richard, and Celeste.

His passion for creative research led him to serve first as a laboratory chemist and physicist and then to do ground-breaking work as a computer programmer at General Electric (GE). Tom had the ability to imagine something before it was a real thing. As a result, in 1956, at GE he envisioned what was possible and helped design the first rocket engines. Noted for being a ""problem solver,"" he developed programs to address design problems that occurred with the shape and dimension of those early rocket engines.

In 1960 - ahead of the global cry to protect the earth - Tom went to work for the Ohio River Basin Project in pollution control. Collaborating with the Statistics Division and the Port of Public Health Services, he developed computer programs that examined what human eyes could not see. He wrote and designed the first database for storage and retrieval of air quality.

When he and his family moved to Denver, Colorado in 1968, he became Director of Computer Services at Colorado Medical Center and held this position until 1970 when the Environmental Protection Agency was formed. At EPA, he became Branch Chief of Data Analysis and developed the computer program that examined stream quality for every stream in the United States. In fact, he was the first computer programmer in the federal government.

A Heart of Gold

Tom Entzminger had a passion for family and for history that was extraordinary. He fervently loved each of his children and taught them to fear God, to love their neighbors, and to value their roots and their stories. His hobbies consisted of gardening, wood working, wine making, bee keeping and raising chickens in the basement. And, as if preparing for a life ahead, he also dabbled in stain glass, making stain glass angels.

Later in life, he became an avid student of genealogy interested in tracing lineages and he spent years uncovering hidden connections that bound people together. He believed strongly that to know one's history is to be prepared to lead. At the drop of a hat he could recite his own family's history back to a German great-great-grandfather Thomas W. Entzminger who in 1845 owned his great-great grandmother Victoria. Tom often told the story that intricately wound through 10 generations to plantations in South Carolina and came forward into the 21^st century. But it wasn't just his family's story that he studied. One project in particular led him to dig into the stories of all the African American residents of Jamestown, NY. As a result, he researched obituaries, funeral programs, public and private archives, church records, oral interviews, and family papers and published a book giving in depth, multi-generational accounts of families in that community.

Clearly, the work was not just for him. Generous beyond a fault, Tom shared his techniques and his findings, encouraging other genealogists (and would-be genealogists) to stir their own pots and dig into their own pasts. He joined the Black Genealogy Search Group of Denver, Colorado and published several additional books and indices.

A Love of God

Tom Entzminger was many things but above all, he was a man of faith who saw himself as a child of God. His life choices were rooted in the strength of the Biblical teachings he believed. When Mahala - his wife of 53 years - died, Tom asked God for guidance and was led to meet and marry Sylvia Esther Camp Harmon who became his devoted companion until her death in 2004. Throughout his life, Tom served as a lay leader who actualized the faith and made it come alive. At Church of the Holy Redeemer and St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Denver, he served on the Vestry and offered advice to many in need. There and also at St. Gabriel the Archangel Episcopal Church, he sang tenor in the choir. As a result, at the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado, he was awarded the Bishop's Cross - the highest honor of the Diocese given to those who through their ministry make a significant positive impact on the world. It recognized and called out the dignity Tom saw in every human being and the work his mind, his hands and his heart had given to others for nine decades.

He leaves to mourn his life and carry on his legacy his children Thomas S. (Myra) Entzminger, Annette M. (Jerry) Crenshaw, Richard A. Entzminger, and Celeste A. (Ivan) Mitchell; his step-children: David M. Harmon and Valerie L. (Victor) Collymore; his grandchildren Andre' (Rondia) Crenshaw, Angela Entzminger, Adrienne Crenshaw, Anthony Crenshaw, Mahala Mitchell, Kamau Mitchell, Justin Mitchell and Gavin Mitchell; his great grandchildren Destinee Ware, Andre Jerome Crenshaw Jr., Zoey Crenshaw-Bass, Riley Crenshaw, Chayne Kash Crenshaw; and a host of other loving family members and friends.

Visitation: January 3, 2020 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Horan & McConaty - SE Denver/Aurora
11150 E. Dartmouth Ave.
Aurora, CO 80014

Funeral Service: January 4, 2020 11:00 am

Church of the Holy Redeemer
2552 N. William Street
Denver, CO 80205
303-831-8963