Thomas Ray Peek

Thomas Ray “Tom” Peek passed away at his home on friday, October 8, 2021 at the age of 91. He was born on September 13, 1930 in Boxelder, Texas to Seymour and Lizzie Bell Peek. Tom attended school in Boxelder and Annona. After graduating from Annona he attended Paris Jr. College where he played basketball for a time. He continued to play basketball after he married the love of his life, Doris Sutton Moore. They were married in Texarkana, Arkansas on June 24, 1950. Soon after marrying, he and Doris moved to the big city. He lived in Oak Cliff and began a career with Hormel. He was a truck driver and he delivered meat all over west/north Texas and Oklahoma. Soon he and Doris were blessed with two children, Blane and Belinda.

While working at Hormel he earned a barber license. So on Saturdays you could find him cutting hair along with his friend Bush. He even cut hair with his own son who he threatened firing and Blane owned the shop. Times were hard in the fifties so Tom became a licensed exterminator. He loved to tell people “I could cut your hair, deliver your meat, and exterminate your house all in the same day.”

While Tom lived in Dallas he and his brother Tebo began building a herd of cattle. Tom would come in every weekend to work cows!

After he retired from Hormel, he and Doris moved back to his beloved Boxelder. He continued to build his herd and soon he and his brother started a dozer business that they ran until his brother Tebo’s death. Then he and his Nephew, Al Peek, ran it for many years.

In his eighties, he was still working cows, running the dozer, and growing a fabulous garden. He had all the okra you could eat. Tom was a hard working man but when he did take a break you might catch him telling a good story, watching “In the Heat of the Night”, the Sweet 16, or the Mavericks NBA games.

He loved his family and his church family. He once remarked after a trying time “I will be a better Christian” and he was. He loved life and lived it to the fullest.

Tom was preceded in death by his parents, Seymour and Lizzie Bell Peek; his beloved wife of 58 years, Doris Peek; his brothers, Haskel, Russel and Alton “Tebo” Peek; his sisters, Janet Jones, Mary Hodges, Mobelia McFarlane and Barney Bell Moore and several nieces and nephews.

There will be no formal visitation.

Graveside services are set for 1:00 p.m. Monday, October 11, 2021, at Boxelder Cemetery with Rev. Bill Dickey officiating. Burial is under the direction of Clarksville Funeral Home.

Tom is survived by his son, Blane Peek and wife, Kathy; his daughter, Belinda Presswood; his grandchildren, Kelli Athas and husband, Nick, Chesley Belk and husband, Adam, Joshua Presswood and wife, Becky, Casey Presswood and Veronica Presswood; his great grandchildren, Preslie Bednarski, Colten Athas, Jocelyn and Logan Presswood, Reeves, Brody and Kessler Belk. He is survived by several nephews, nieces, and sister-in-law Sara Peek and husband, Jimmy and brother-in-law, Harry Moore and wife Linda.

A special thanks to Sandy “Dirt” Yarbrough, Sharon Francis, Janice Martin, Joan Langley and Cindy Martin for the special care givin to our daddy during the last few years. Also, we would like to thank Dr. Devabrata Ganguly for all his care and kindness.

In memory of Tom Peek the family requests donations be made to the Boxelder Cemetery 11864 FM 909, Bogata, Tx. 75417.

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