Help Tom Sylvester and His Family Rebuild After House Fire

Tom Sylvester and his family recently lost their home and garage to a house fire on Friday, September 13, 2024. All of their belongings are gone. Luckily, no one was hurt. However, the damage done extends far beyond physical injury as they have lost their clothes, tools, furniture, and priceless memories he and his family have collected over the years.

He is a well-known member of the land surveying community in not only the Grand Junction area, but the whole state. It is hard to find a surveyor in the state that has not heard of him. Along with his surveying career, he is an engineer and a professor at Colorado Mesa University. The time he puts into this profession is unbelievable and has to be overwhelming at times, even though he never shows it. He always makes time to help in any way he can, whether it is helping his students understand the profession better, serving on the board of the Professional Land Surveyors of Colorado, speaking at seminars, mentoring his understudies, running a business, providing help to the courts for land disputes, and the list goes on and on.

The Professional Land Surveyors of Colorado Board of Directors and its members ask for your donations to help one of ours.

If you know Tom, you know you can always count on him. It is now time to lend him and his family a hand in recovering their personal life as best as we can. If you would please donate to the GoFundMe for Tom and his family, it would be greatly appreciated. There is almost no way we could give as much as he has given us in this profession. So please, take some time to donate and share the wealth that Tom has personally given all of us in some form or another.

Here are just a few things his colleagues have to say about Tom Sylvester:

As a reviewer of plats, it is Tom's work I point out to others as an example of how to conduct and document a survey in the most professional manner.

He is also a fine example of a generous and dedicated professional. (Scott Thompson - Mesa County Surveyor and PLSC Director)

I have always felt very comfortable having Tom in charge of educating our next generation. His competence and professionalism are beyond what many other colleges are able to offer to new surveyors. He is the bright spot shaping our future.

(Dennis Mouland - PLSC Director)

Tom is a shining light within the survey profession. As the first Professor for the Survey program at Mesa County, Tom is literally the starting point for many of our young folks beginning their journey into the survey profession. He is also the stop gap for our older survey technicians to be able to continue their growth in the survey profession to meet Board requirements for education for examination.

It has been my experience with Tom, that he will give you the shirt off his back to help. I believe he is the example and set the standard of professionalism we should all try to follow.

For all that Tom has given to the survey profession over the decades, it is our time to give back to Tom in his time of need.

(Brian Dennis - PLSC President)

Tom has always made himself available to help with any Survey related questions, no matter how busy he is. He would guide and point out references so that others could come to their own professional opinion. One of my mentors that I look up to and highly respect. He has also given so much to our Survey Profession we will never possibly be able to repay. Helping him now in his family’s time of need is at least a fractional start…

(Brian Bowker - PLSC Director)

Tom always says, "yes". No matter the need or topic, Tom has always stepped up to help the community. He always does this with a smile and positive attitude. He is willing to drive from Grand Junction to Denver to teach a three-hour class for professionals studying for the LSI and PLS exams (in the Spring snow). This profession is better because of Tom's contributions.

Becky Roland (PLSC Executive Director)