Thomas "Tom" Bartley Heath
1936 - 2025
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Invite friends and family to read the obituary and add memories.
Tom Heath passed away October 3, 2025 in Gastonia, North Carolina. His life was characterized by his dedication to his profession, his community, his exploration of the world through travel and the study of languages, and, most importantly, his family. Born in Pittston, PA, to William and Mary Heath, Tom attended Forty Fort, PA, schools. He then graduated from Penn State with a BS in Electrical Engineering.
His professional career revolved around providing electricity to rural areas without adequate service. He enjoyed a highly successful 34-year government career, primarily with the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) where in 1958, he began as an Office Engineer. In 1992, he ended his government career as Assistant to the Administrator of REA, where he was able to settle 14 billion dollars of government-guaranteed debt, saving our government two billion dollars. He was particularly proud of the fact that this work was recognized by awards both from the U.S. government and the debtor’s organization.
Immediately after retirement in his mid-fifties, Tom founded a consulting firm as a “second career,” providing advice to utilities throughout the US and to the governments of Peru and the Philippines.
Throughout his life, starting when he was in his twenties, Tom pursued a number of successful entrepreneurial endeavors (and a few not-so-successful), ranging from ownership, development, and financing of real estate to cattle feeding.
In the early ‘60’s he began what were to be two of his life-long avocations: the study of languages and travel.
His first additional language was Spanish, which he started while in New Mexico. He never took formal classes, but taught himself, studying almost every day. At the end of his life, he characterized his language mastery as: German—not very good, Portuguese—sufficiently good, Spanish—good, and English—very good.
He also started traveling in the ’60’s. In 1962/63 he took a break from the job and traveled solo around the world (he celebrated his 26th birthday in India). He followed that in 1967 with seven weeks snow skiing through the major areas in Europe with his best friend, Ken Grant. Tom continued to travel as much as he could throughout the rest of his life, visiting a total of 103 countries. Only a month before he passed away, he and his wife, Lane, were cruising off Greenland and the Canadian High Arctic.
Tom was a man of many hobbies, a “doer and a fixer” around the house and in the yard. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed hunting and gardening. In fact, he provided much of his family’s protein through hunting, harvesting deer, caribou, and moose. As a Master Gardener, trained by the University of Maryland, he frequently made presentations at public libraries on vegetable gardening. He enjoyed wine-making, reading (especially world history), and cooking.
A very humble and unselfish man, in retirement, he invested considerable time in a variety of volunteer activities, including driving for the elderly or incapacitated, teaching English as a second language, and helping at CRO, a local food bank.
Most of all, he was a devoted husband and loving father and grandfather.
He is survived by his wife, Lane; his son, Shawn (Dede), his daughter, Anna (Jay), and six grandchildren: Luke Heath, Dean Thomas Heath, Pete Heath, Owen Thomas Rodriguez, Amira Raya, and Vivian Raya.
A Funeral Mass was held at 11:00 am Friday, October 17, 2025 at Queen of the Apostles, 503 N. Main Street, Belmont. A reception followed in the church fellowship hall.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations can be made to charities that Tom supported:
(1) the Salvation Army, 1506 Union Rd, Gastonia, NC 28054 or www.salvationarmyusa.org
(2) Community Relief Organization (CRO) of Mount Holly, P.O. Box 831
Mt. Holly, NC 28120
(3) Samaritan’s Purse, PO Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607 or www.samaritanspurse.org
McLean Funeral Directors of Belmont is serving the Heath family. A guest registry for sharing prayerful thoughts and heartfelt condolences is available online at www.mcleanfuneral.com.
Funeral Mass
Friday, October 17, 2025
11:00AM
Queen of the Apostles Catholic Church
503 N. Main Street
Belmont, NC 28012
His professional career revolved around providing electricity to rural areas without adequate service. He enjoyed a highly successful 34-year government career, primarily with the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) where in 1958, he began as an Office Engineer. In 1992, he ended his government career as Assistant to the Administrator of REA, where he was able to settle 14 billion dollars of government-guaranteed debt, saving our government two billion dollars. He was particularly proud of the fact that this work was recognized by awards both from the U.S. government and the debtor’s organization.
Immediately after retirement in his mid-fifties, Tom founded a consulting firm as a “second career,” providing advice to utilities throughout the US and to the governments of Peru and the Philippines.
Throughout his life, starting when he was in his twenties, Tom pursued a number of successful entrepreneurial endeavors (and a few not-so-successful), ranging from ownership, development, and financing of real estate to cattle feeding.
In the early ‘60’s he began what were to be two of his life-long avocations: the study of languages and travel.
His first additional language was Spanish, which he started while in New Mexico. He never took formal classes, but taught himself, studying almost every day. At the end of his life, he characterized his language mastery as: German—not very good, Portuguese—sufficiently good, Spanish—good, and English—very good.
He also started traveling in the ’60’s. In 1962/63 he took a break from the job and traveled solo around the world (he celebrated his 26th birthday in India). He followed that in 1967 with seven weeks snow skiing through the major areas in Europe with his best friend, Ken Grant. Tom continued to travel as much as he could throughout the rest of his life, visiting a total of 103 countries. Only a month before he passed away, he and his wife, Lane, were cruising off Greenland and the Canadian High Arctic.
Tom was a man of many hobbies, a “doer and a fixer” around the house and in the yard. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed hunting and gardening. In fact, he provided much of his family’s protein through hunting, harvesting deer, caribou, and moose. As a Master Gardener, trained by the University of Maryland, he frequently made presentations at public libraries on vegetable gardening. He enjoyed wine-making, reading (especially world history), and cooking.
A very humble and unselfish man, in retirement, he invested considerable time in a variety of volunteer activities, including driving for the elderly or incapacitated, teaching English as a second language, and helping at CRO, a local food bank.
Most of all, he was a devoted husband and loving father and grandfather.
He is survived by his wife, Lane; his son, Shawn (Dede), his daughter, Anna (Jay), and six grandchildren: Luke Heath, Dean Thomas Heath, Pete Heath, Owen Thomas Rodriguez, Amira Raya, and Vivian Raya.
A Funeral Mass was held at 11:00 am Friday, October 17, 2025 at Queen of the Apostles, 503 N. Main Street, Belmont. A reception followed in the church fellowship hall.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations can be made to charities that Tom supported:
(1) the Salvation Army, 1506 Union Rd, Gastonia, NC 28054 or www.salvationarmyusa.org
(2) Community Relief Organization (CRO) of Mount Holly, P.O. Box 831
Mt. Holly, NC 28120
(3) Samaritan’s Purse, PO Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607 or www.samaritanspurse.org
McLean Funeral Directors of Belmont is serving the Heath family. A guest registry for sharing prayerful thoughts and heartfelt condolences is available online at www.mcleanfuneral.com.
Funeral Mass
Friday, October 17, 2025
11:00AM
Queen of the Apostles Catholic Church
503 N. Main Street
Belmont, NC 28012
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