Thomas Vicker

Thomas Warren Vicker was born the second child and only son of Gary and Sonja Vicker in Omaha, NE on September 28, 1965. He was baptized November 14, 1965 at American Lutheran Church and was confirmed May 25, 1980 at Morning Star Lutheran Church, Omaha, NE. Tom was very close to both his older sister, Paige, and younger sister, Nealy. He lived with Paige a year when they attended KU and a year with Nealy when they were both working in Denver. Tom was also very close to both sets of grandparents, Tom & Billie Ruckl and Charlie & Martie Vicker. Since his parents, Gary and Sonja, were both only children, the immediate family of nine were very close and celebrated all their holidays and birthdays together for many, many years. Tom and his sisters attended Montessori school in their early years and all went to Loveland elementary school, Arbor Heights Junior High and Westside High school. Soccer was an important part of Tom's growing up; his dad coaching some of his teams. He played on the select team that went to Europe when he was a high school sophomore and continued to play in college. Tom graduated high school in 1984 and followed his sister, Paige, to KU in Lawrence. Upon graduation from KU with a BS degree in Business, he continued his education at the University of Oregon in Eugene and after two years received his MBA, June 1990. His career found him in Denver, Colorado working primarily as a Project Manager on computer/software projects for FDR, CQG, TASS, and American Express. Tom was a great people person and did a great job of keeping in contact with many of his co workers and business clients who became good friends over the years. Tom & Gwenn Boggs became engaged while on Sarfari in Africa, August 2002. In July of 2003, they were married in Telluride, CO. They have a 2 1/2 acre ranch in Littleton, CO with two horses (Tom's Solar and Gwenn's Timaya) and four dogs. In the summer of 2004 they completed a new barn which they all (both humans and animals) love and a barn-raising party. In September, after two visits to the hospital emergency unit, Tom was admitted to the hospital and a colonoscopy was performed. The doctors found a tumor in his colon which they thought might be the dreaded disease, cancer. After surgery the following day, Labor Day 2004, the doctors confirmed the tumor was malignant and that the cancer had spread. The diagnosis was Stage IV colon cancer. What a shock! In October 2004 the chemo treatments began- a 14 day cycle. It was a trip each day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to the clinic and then recovery until the next 14 day cycle was to begin again. Early on Tom would start to feel good by the weekend, but as chemo treatments went on, the feel good days became fewer and fewer. In May of 2005, Tom's tests showed no cancer growth, and we were all thrilled that a remission had occurred. However, after two months time, the cancer showed it really had not stopped or stabilized, so it was back to chemo again - after all, it had been pretty effective in the beginning, maybe it would be again. By the time, Tom had his last chemo treatment in November 2005; it wasn't until the last three days of the 14 day cycle that he felt well enough to really function normally. The cost had become too high for the benefit. The end of December 2005 and the beginning of 2006, Tom and, of course the family, searched for alternative treatments visiting Mexico and Huston, in hopes of finding a treatment other than chemo that would perhaps stabilize his cancer. Tom was a person who enjoyed his life - each day of it. He loved the outdoors: climbing, skiing, camping, biking, riding his horse with his wife and tending his pond and flowers. He favorite TV show was "This Old House," his favorite flower - tulips. He had a great love for art and music, his family, and most of all his wife, Gwenn. Memorial Service will be held Friday, April 7, 2006 at 2:00 PM, Horan & McConaty Family Chapel, 3101 South Wadsworth Boulevard. Memorial Donations to National Colorectal Cancer Research or Lance Armstrong Foundation.