Colonel Tom C. McConnell
Colonel Tom C. McConnell, former head of the ROTC in the Hamilton County Schools, has died at 75.
Col. McConnell served on the Armed Forces Week Committee. For many years he coordinated Hamilton County Schools ROTC units in the annual Armed Forces Day Parade. He was also active in the Chattanooga Chapter Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.
Col.
McConnell was born in Charlotte, NC, and raised in the suburb of Mount Holly where he graduated from high school in 1964. He was a middle child with a younger brother and older sister.
He received his commission and a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1968 upon graduation from the United States Military Academy, West Point, NY. He was active in varsity sports and music during his school days both in NC and NY.
He held a Master of Science Degree in Business Administration from Boston University and was a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College and the Army War College. He was a Senior Service College Intra-Governmental Fellow with the Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration.
He married his high school sweetheart, Brenda, on graduation evening in the West Point Cadet Chapel. They spent the next 26 years in the Army living on three continents in five countries with extensive travel to every European, Central and South American nation as well as many other countries around the world.
They have two daughters and two adopted sons (Korean brothers), and four grandchildren. Both daughters, Mary Catherine and Margaret Ann, and their daughters, Cecilia and Sophia, attend the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul. Deacon Tom retired an Army Colonel and then directed the JROTC Program for Hamilton County Department of Education for 24 years, retiring in June 2018.
A visitation will be held Friday, Oct. 8, from 7-9 p.m. at The Basilica of Saints Peter & Paul, 214 E. 8th Street. A mass will occur Saturday, Oct. 9, at 11 a.m. at 214 E. 8th St.
A committal with full military honors will occur Monday, Oct. 11, at 10 a.m. at Chattanooga National Cemetery, 1200 Bailey Ave.
Funeral arrangements are by Chattanooga Funeral Home.