Tom Husman 1969-2020

dimitrispearljam

deadendp said:

Jed said:

I met Tom on the merch line in Seattle and he was so nice and kind. Like someone said above, I was a bit intimidated by his appearance, but instantly found him to be just amazing to talk to. I am so glad our paths crossed even just for those brief moments.

The tributes above are so beautiful and we NEVER get to hear from the crew. This is so meaningful I cannot thank the mods enough for sharing this!

+1

HughFreakingDillon

sounds like an amazing guy. 

amethgr8

My deepest sympathy to all who knew and loved Tom.  I am wearing my white watch today in his honor.

lolobugg

I had the pleasure to meet Tom and speak to him numerous times at PJ shows. I remember hanging with him at Wrigley 2016 and talking about how crazy the merch lines were. I will never forget him teasing me about the poor job I was doing rolling my poster at TOTD in Philly. He gave me some professional tips. RIP, Tom. Going to miss seeing him at shows.

deadendp

lolobugg said:

I had the pleasure to meet Tom and speak to him numerous times at PJ shows. I remember hanging with him at Wrigley 2016 and talking about how crazy the merch lines were. I will never forget him teasing me about the poor job I was doing rolling my poster at TOTD in Philly. He gave me some professional tips. RIP, Tom. Going to miss seeing him at shows.

I had to roll your posters for you at Wrigley!    

The merch line was crazy.  No lie there.  

hedonist

lexicondevil said:

These are beautiful tributes. Tom must have been a really special person. It makes me think about what I would want people to say about me when I leave this Earth. Striving to be like Tom sounds like a good way to start.

Yes to all of this.

PureandEasy

elwayvedder said:

Thank you for sharing and posting this @Sea as it means a lot.
Here's what I posted on social media and other threads. Let our memories of Tom be blessings to us all:

Here's what i tried to share with his friends and family on social media:

Most of you who are friends, co-workers and family of Tom's don't know me but I need to share something with you and get it off my chest of a day where Tom displayed how kind and big hearted he was to total strangers so please forgive me as I need to express this in my gratitude towards Tom.
I'm your typical Pearl Jam fan who always tried to leave Tom alone so he could do his job and work etc. I realize how he must get bombarded on game day from fans hovering around the merch booths all day etc.
One special day in Philadelphia was a day Tom changed someone's life forever and for the better.
Again, forgive me as I'm not as close to Tom as many of you are but I need you all to know what amazing thing Tom did out of the kindness of his heart.
Besides being a PJ fan, I also run a non-profit that sends morale boosting care packages to our US Service Members deployed to the war zones in the Middle East. We had a Pearl Jam fan (edit: and forum member here on this page) on our list who was in Afghanistan and while there suffered emotional and mental trauma with being deployed and events happening around him in Afghanistan. While this US Service Member was there and receiving our care packages, he used the music of Pearl Jam to help him cope with what he was dealing with and while deployed he flew 2 US Flags over the base; one in my name/honor for sending him care packages and one in the honor and name of PJ's lead singer as the music and lyrics saved this young man's life.
This young man wrote out a letter to Pearl Jam's Ed Vedder and the band and mailed the US Flag and letter to the band in Seattle only for him to return from deployment to find it returned and sitting on his doorstep marked as "undeliverable". He was devastated.
Fast forward to 2 concerts in Philly years later and I was taking this US Hero with me to the first of two nights as my treat. He brought the flag and letter with him and we spent the day before the concert trying to find out how get it to the band. He needed the band to know the impact they had on his life. How their art, music and lyrics kept him sane in Afghanistan and kept him going. Kept him ALIVE.
We were unsuccessful that day and before he left to drive home after the concert, he handed me the flag and private letter and asked me to try for him again the next day as I was returning for the 2nd Philly show.
That's where Tom comes in. I spent part of the early afternoon walking around the venue not knowing what to do with this burden that would be an honor to do but at the same time, I was simply there to enjoy a concert. I was terribly nervous about the weight of the flag as it seemed to get heavier and heavier as we got closer to show time.
Tom was working hard restocking a merch booth. I asked him to give me 30 seconds and I showed him the US Flag. I showed him the personal hand written letter. He said "it's for a US Veteran?". I said "Yes sir". He said "I will take care of it. Stay here".
I won't go into the rest of the details but after that it was taken care of. That night during the show, Ed Vedder publicly called out our US Service Member and thanked the US Service Member for the gift. For the flag. For the hand written letter and letting him know how their art saved his life.
Thanks to Tom, our US Service Member forever can go to sleep at night knowing his US Flag flown over the base in Afghanistan absolutely made it to it's intended new owner. It flew from Afghanistan to Seattle back to Virginia and then finally made it's way to Philly and took years to land in the hands of it's intended owner and thanks to Tom, it did.
Tom was working and had a job to do but yet he displayed a HUGE heart and demonstrated an act of kindness that we can all learn from and that is you can always do something kind for someone else, no matter how busy you are.
For this and more, I will forever be grateful to Tom and may his memory be a blessing to us all.
Thanks for letting me share this with you all.
Be safe

That brought tears to my eyes for numerous reasons.  I know you and what you do to help others on a daily basis is beyond admirable.  Going the extra mile for this US Vet and getting assistance from Tom to fulfill that wish is heartwarming.  That Tom went the extra mile too is a testament to his kindness and good heart.  May he rest in peace.  My thoughts to his family and loved ones.  

on2legs

It’s clear that Tom positively impacted so many people through the years... RIP. 

ryansako

Husman,

It’s been nearly two weeks since we last spoke and not a day has gone by without me thinking about you. Our friendship over the past 25+yrs. is one that will never be forgotten. You truly were a brother to me. The ‘giggles’ we had to the tears we shed…I only wish it could have lasted longer. I just have to keep reminding myself that you’re in a better place now and no longer suffering. 

I never got a chance to tell you this, but one of best times I had hanging out was when the two of us drove down to TN together so you could start the next chapter of your life. That’s right Husman, 8hrs. in a car with you, listening to Yacht Rock and eating beef Meximelts…what else could have been better than that?! However, it was the conversations we had along the way that I’ll always remember. All the shows we’ve been too, countless Mud Hens games, our close group of friends, everything we were going to do in TN, etc. You were excited!

Reflecting back on this made me realize over these past 2yrs. you never complained about your situation…not once. You always had a curveball in your back pocket and the conversation quickly turned into a laughing matter. I’ve never met a stronger person than you Tom. 

I know you’re out there watching over me pal. Probably “god damning” me  too for being in a funk. I just want to say thank you Husman. Thank you for being an awesome friend over the years. Thank you for always having my back. Thank you for the memories that will never be forgotten. 

Love you bruh,

Sakman

deadendp

ryansako said:

Husman,

It’s been nearly two weeks since we last spoke and not a day has gone by without me thinking about you. Our friendship over the past 25+yrs. is one that will never be forgotten. You truly were a brother to me. The ‘giggles’ we had to the tears we shed…I only wish it could have lasted longer. I just have to keep reminding myself that you’re in a better place now and no longer suffering. 

I never got a chance to tell you this, but one of best times I had hanging out was when the two of us drove down to TN together so you could start the next chapter of your life. That’s right Husman, 8hrs. in a car with you, listening to Yacht Rock and eating beef Meximelts…what else could have been better than that?! However, it was the conversations we had along the way that I’ll always remember. All the shows we’ve been too, countless Mud Hens games, our close group of friends, everything we were going to do in TN, etc. You were excited!

Reflecting back on this made me realize over these past 2yrs. you never complained about your situation…not once. You always had a curveball in your back pocket and the conversation quickly turned into a laughing matter. I’ve never met a stronger person than you Tom. 

I know you’re out there watching over me pal. Probably “god damning” me  too for being in a funk. I just want to say thank you Husman. Thank you for being an awesome friend over the years. Thank you for always having my back. Thank you for the memories that will never be forgotten. 

Love you bruh,

Sakman

Ryan, I'm so very sorry. 

ryansako

deadendp said:

Ryan, I'm so very sorry. 

Thanks Amy. ❤️

F Me In The Brain

Awesome letter to your friend, Ryan

I hope that as weeks turn to months, and months turn to years, that you can smile more and more at memories like these. 
Revisiting your old friend, through stories, or just  knowing that part of him is always with you when you have things like this permanently etched into your soul - that is the best part of knowing great people.
We hope the pain fades while the memories remain.

Astaak

I am so truly saddened by Tommy’s passing. I didn’t know him well, but I knew him way back when. My family and his grew up together in a suburban town outside of Toledo, OH. In many ways it was a perfect little spot to raise your kids in the 70’s/80’s/90’s. I have two older brothers (Jim and Tom) who are the same age as Tom Husman and his little brother, Nathan. We all played baseball (softball for me) and my brother (Tom) and Nathan were good childhood friends. They got in plenty of trouble together. I can remember my mom and their mom (Fran) visiting for a play date, the mom’s enjoying a glass of wine and me, the younger sister hanging back with my mom drinking OJ and dipping my finger in my mom’s wine glass. Haha. As the youngest of the bunch (Tommy was 6 years older than me, I tried to stay out of their way I guess. Fast forward to the early 90’s, I got hired for my first job by none other than Fran at a little party/balloon shop where I worked part time till I graduated high school and would work there on break from college. Fran was and remains the best boss I ever had. She is so kind and so sweet, and my heart breaks for her.
 From time to time Tommy would stop in to see his mom, and my being intimidated by an older, cooler kid like Tommy continued. Little did I know that we actually had a big thing in common, huge love for music. And who knew he would go on to work with my favorite band! It was and still is too much for me to comprehend! So the years went by, I bounced all over the place moving from state to state and losing touch with most of the people from my childhood. Over the years I would hear updates from my mom about Fran. When I got married in 2010 in NY she was on the invite list but could not attend. Sadly, that same year she lost her youngest son, Nathan. That was actually when I heard about Tommy working with Pearl Jam and how well they treated him during that difficult time. It wasn’t until 2018 when i went to a Pearl Jam show with my brother at Wrigley (my first PJ show in many many years.) My brother reminded me that Tommy Husman worked with the band and he wondered if we could get in touch with him. I did find him on Instagram and shot him a message once. It wasn’t long after that time that I heard of his cancer fight. I hoped like many others that he would have more time. 

 I truly regret that I never had the chance to touch base. I will do my best to not make that mistake again and find a way to reconnect with Fran and let her know she is not alone and that my heart goes out to her. I am so happy to see all the people that loved Tommy Husman. He is a true success story from our town of Sylvania, OH. I am so very sorry to hear of his passing. I wish he had had more time here with his wife. I wish the same for all of his friends and coworkers and family as well. I wish and hope that we all get time in abundance. 

bigbiggzy

RIP and peace to his family and loved ones 😞

raindog80

RIP Tom. 

ryansako

Loujoe

All this made me reach out to a couple old friends.
Lots of love to those hurting. Take care everyone.

PureandEasy

Reading Astaak's story, so sad.  His mother (Fran) has lost two sons now.  I'm not a parent but I know that's not right.  It brings me pain, I can't imagine that loss.  My heart goes out to his mother and his family.  

deadendp

ryansako said:

Hugs to you. 

ryansako

A few of us have been in talks of putting this together for a few weeks now and it's finally come together. For anyone interested in a 'I ❤️ Husman' t-shirt please visit the site below. All sales are pre-order only. The sale will be running through November 1st . Once the sale ends, orders will be processed, printed and shipped. 100% of the proceeds will be given Tom's mom and wife.

https://www.jupmodesupply.com/collections/ilh-i-love-husman

If any members or mods have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.

Cheers,
Ryan