Thomas F. Tyra

Thomas F. Tyra, 62, of Mexico, died Monday, June 18, 2012, at University Hospital and Clinics in Columbia.

Memorial services will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, June 22, 2012, at First Presbyterian Church in Mexico with Rev. Terry Kukuk officiating. Family will receive friends following the service in the fellowship hall. Mr. Tyra was cremated and his cremains placed in the Columbarium at First Presbyterian Church in Mexico where he was a member.

Tom was born on April 9, 1950, in Klamath Falls, Oregon, a son of Thomas Jackson and Mildred Lavada (Wilson) Tyra. On December 9, 2011, he married Mary Jane Andresen, at First Presbyterian Church in Mexico. Mary Jane survives at the home.

Mr. Tyra was a service engineer and field supervisor in oil fields with the J.B. Hughes Company in Long Beach, California. He also worked as a customer service manager with Wal-Mart for 16 years.

In addition to his wife, survivors include one step son, Stephen Andresen, Mexico;, one daughter, Virginia Lammey, of Australia, one step daughter, Rayna Rippie, Mexico; one sister, Ann Thomas, Bakersfield, California; and seven grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

In lieu of flowers the family asks that memorials be given to the National Federation for the Blind or to First Presbyterian Church. They may be sent in care of Pickering Funeral Home, 403 N. Western, Mexico, MO 65265.