Checking in at 97, Tom is the oldest player in the Port Townsend Symphony Orchestra.
Tom began playing violin when he was about eight years old. His first violin was handmade by his great-grandfather in Norway. His parents purchased Tom’s second violin in about 1938 from a violin pawn shop in Portland, Oregon. It was a good violin; in fact, it is the same violin that Tom plays today.
During Tom’s career as a licensed mechanical engineer, he played with the Bremerton Symphony for more than two decades.
After moving to the Olympic Peninsula, Tom played with the Port Angeles Symphony for around a dozen years, and for the past 25 years he has played with the Port Townsend Symphony Orchestra.