June 16, 1983 - February 27, 2018
Thomas William Delafield, Tommy, as most called him, was an amazingly honorable, loving, caring, generous, trusting, passionate, nurturing and beautiful man. He had a wonderful sense of humor, loved to laugh, and gave the best hugs! His four children, who inherited all his best traits, Joshua Dante (19), Javen William (15), Marcus Cain (13) and Chloe Angeliese (11) were the loves of his life. He worked tirelessly for them from the time he became a father, at age 15, in 1999, when he became a dishwasher, promoted to cook for Siam Palace, for five years, in Grand Coulee, WA. He was fortunate to be able to combine his organizational skills and love of nature with his career in landscape construction. He left his mark on the Pacific Northwest through the thousands of trees, bushes, and flowers he planted, for which he experienced a boundless source of pride. His son, Javen aptly wrote, “This is hard. Looking at all of your messages, all of our pictures. Your smile. I can hear your voice saying something dumb and dorky. I miss it…I miss you. It’s okay because you are happy now but it just hurts so much. How you called me your perfect Son, your beautiful Son. I took how much love you had for us kids for granted. You were too young to die like that. I’ll never meet somebody like you. Thank you for being here and working your ass off and teaching me so many lessons just by being who you are. You’ll always be in everyone’s heart dad…I love you.” The messages between he and his mother 20 minutes before the gunshot that ended his life were, “I love you so much!!!!” and “Love you so much too”. In addition to his four children, he is survived by his mother, Diana Eschen, and his sisters, Stephanie Hileman, Melissa Delafield, Shaughnessy (Christopher) Christensen, Shantina Hauer, and Karrie Delafield, two aunties, Lorie Delafield, and Donna (Shane)Pruett; seven uncles, Douglas Eschen, Dennis Eschen, David Eschen, Brian Eschen, Leon Willard, John Eschen, Michael Delafield and Randy Delafield; multiple nieces and nephews, numerous cousins, and maternal grandfather, Lavern Eschen. He was preceded in death by his father, Richard Steven Delafield; grandparents, Cecil William Delafield, Shirley (Albee) Haire, and Peggy (Fuhrman)Reifsnyder.
