Thomas E. Ramskill

OBITUARY

Thomas Edward Ramskill died of natural causes. Born in Hollywood, California. He enjoyed growing up as an Army brat.

Tommy earned a BS in Engineering from West Point in 1978, and later an MBA, MS and PhD in structural engineering. Self-employed in Los Angeles and San Diego, he produced engineering blueprints for home remodels and earthquake repair.

Served as an expert structural engineering witness for the victims and homeowners of the Northridge Earthquake. He volunteered his unpaid engineering services to walk New Orleans' neighborhoods to conduct structural assessments of homes after Hurricane Katrina.

Tom was social, and generous to his friends. Tommy built an impeccable professional reputation. Tommy worked hard and played hard. Cardiovascular disease took him while asleep. The Wake will be 21 August.

Published by San Diego Union-Tribune from Jul. 24 to Jul. 30, 2022.I, James Ramskill, got access to this email account today.  Here's something that I prepared for his West Point classmates.

Thomas E. Ramskill ‘78

* July 30, 1956 – June 3, 2022 * Died in San Diego, CA

Cremated, and ashes buried in the cemetery near the Army flag, in Twin Falls, Idaho

Thomas Edward Ramskill (aka Edward Thomas George), the son of LTC (retired) Ellsworth Palmer George Jr. and Gloria Valjean George, was born in Hollywood, California.   Tom grew up an Army brat; moved around the USA and Germany; and looked forward to arriving and exploring new communities.  He thought being an Army brat was a great life.  Loved the outdoors and collecting critters (turtles, frogs, crawdads, snakes, praying mantis, etc…)  He had a cool mom who let them in the house for a few days.  Tom excelled at Twin Falls High School in Idaho in sports and academics.  

In 1974, he was one of five students from the same high school accepted into USMA.  Tom had a tight circle of friends at the academy.  He was known for being one of the best boxers in his weight class.  Tom earned his airborne wings and spent one Summer with a Fort Hood Infantry unit.  Caught up in a he-said-she-said, when women were new to the academy; Tom was allowed to graduate; but was denied a commission.  He always viewed this action as extreme and shaped by the politics of the day.  It haunted him; but influenced him to put special effort into making friends the rest of his life.  

After West Point, Tom partied at University of Idaho as Tom Selleck ‘Magnum PI’ look alike and a 6'5" bouncer at the most popular bar in town, Rathskellers.  While living it up, he still maintained academic rigor and graduated with a MS in Engineering and an MBA.  Later in life, Tom was motivated to earn a Doctorate from one of the best structural engineering programs in the country at Virginia Tech.  He was always proud of being a USMA graduate; Tom decorated his den with West Point memorabilia; attended alumni events, and Army Football games around the country with fellow classmates.

At his first engineering job, Tom calculated engineering specifications for the floor truces of the Columbia Center, which is the tallest shiny black building that can be seen in the Seattle skyline at Seahawk home games.  After getting laid off due to an economic downturn, Tom traveled to Los Angeles and matured his craft that became his lifelong work.  Self-employed, he made a hot and cold living in southern California producing engineering blueprints for home remodels for movie stars such as Marlon Brando, Bett Midler and Charles Bronson, and earthquake repair.  

Lonely, Tom married a woman of a different culture twice, and divorced her twice.  Then declared that he would not marry again.  He remained single the rest of his life, by choice.

Standing up for the little guy, Tom served as an expert structural engineering witness against State Farm Insurance and for the victims and homeowners of the Northridge Earthquake.  Very patriotic, he volunteered his unpaid engineering services to conduct structural assessments of homes after Hurricane Katrina.  Tom endured his hip pain and walked door to door across New Orleans neighborhoods to enable the rebuilding process to begin.  Then he got hip replacement surgery and set of metal detectors the rest of his life.

Tom was social, often conversing with strangers he just met, and generous to his friends.  In 2002, he moved to San Diego, and started going by Tommy.  Still self-employed, Tommy was very disciplined and successful at producing results at work (a trait that endured since West Point); and he built an impeccable professional reputation.  Tommy had fun traveling with friends, doing bucket list things with his brother, going to rock concerts and parties, and singing karaoke (he sounded like Johnny Cash).  Lately, he devotedly managed his mother’s affairs.  Tom planned to retire at age 70 and thought about moving to Nashville with his girlfriend.  The silent killer, cardiovascular disease, took him while asleep in his home at age 65.  Thomas is survived by his brother James, sister Carolyn, and 93-year-old mother Valjean.

Tom had the following calligraphy art in his home from an unknown author, which sums up how he lived his life:  " Nothing is forever.  Catch your happiness when you can before the moment flies away forever."

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