"The last time I saw my son, Tommy, he was ten years old. I had to put him on a plane to go back to Oregon to go back to his dad. Neither of us knew it would be thirty years before we would see one another.

He and his dad moved a lot and so did I in Los Angeles. He was told I was dead by a girlfriend of his dad's. But I never gave up. I  looked for him those thirty years. One night I had an idea, I got on Facebook and put in his name. He came up pretty quickly. I knew it was him by the birthday and his hometown. I was elated. I sent a message to him on Facebook. It took him a couple of weeks to find it as he was homeless in Portland. He finally saw it and was thrilled.He called me and I made arrangements for him to come to Venice, California. For the first time in years we were so very happy.

After about one month he had an offer to help trim some trees. He wanted to learn to use a chainsaw. He cut a limb from the tree while on a ladder and when his arm came down he cut the back of his leg, cutting the muscle, the nerves, one artery and one vein. Paramedics got him in the ambulence, and on the way to the hospital he stopped breathing and his heart stopped. At UCLA Westwood they revived his heart but he had been without oxygen and blood for twenty minutes and he lost all of his blood. He was rushed to surgery to fix his leg but they couldn't stop the bleeding. He passed away April 11, 2015 at 7:15 pm.

We don't have the funds for his cremation or his memorial. I do not want the county to do it because they put several bodies in at a time. I need this done privately so his daughters and I can have his ashes." -Marvetta Olivo, Tom's mother

" My dad was super happy to have his family together for the first time in his life, the only other want he had was to have my sister Codii with us too.  I had just spent spring break with him  and it was the first time I had seen him in several years. He took me out to get vegan ice cream and tried to teach me some skateboard tricks. I really admired my dad because he was so rad and was really finally happy with his life. He made us Easter dinner and was genuinely so grateful to have family surround him. I was just working on building a great relationship with my dad until he passed away. I was so stoked to have him in my life again and to have him tragically taken from me is something I would have never expected.  He was so rad and always told stories about his wild adventures and crazy times he had with his friends.  He inspired my mom to become vegeterian which is why I am still vegeterian to this day and have never eaten meat.  I love you dad rest in peace" - Daisy Berry, Tom's daughter