Thomas Robert Jodry
December 31, 1997 - September 14, 2019
He was born with big brown eyes framed by long, curled eyelashes and a head full of dark brown hair. We admired our New Years Eve baby, and loved him as all parents love their children. And it was a boy!
He was an easy baby, pleasant disposition, and cried only when needed. He smiled a lot, and everyone loved Tommy. He was inquisitive, playful, and smart. He had commanded the English language at a young age. At age four, he would often get up early, turn on the TV, and watch the news. Like any other boy, he loved playing with his cars and trucks, and especially loved his Toy Story “Woody” doll, and often dressed up as a cowboy.
Tommy sailed through elementary and junior high school with excellent grades. Tommy loved school, and learning came easily to him. His descriptive writing caught the attention of every teacher, and he won several writing awards over the years. He enjoyed art at an early age, and won a local newspaper contest for one of his drawings. In sixth grade, he was elected Student Council treasurer after campaigning heavily, and giving a humorous speech to the entire school. He handed out campaign stickers that said “Pedro says ‘vote for Tommy!’” He did this while walking around campus wearing a Mariachi suit. He was never shy about doing anything in those years.
Sports always played an important role in Tommy’s life. His focus was always more on enjoying the sport than needing to win, although he always did put out his greatest effort in every game. As with many local families, many weekends were spent at soccer games. Over time, his interests changed to baseball, and by high school, he was playing on the golf team.
Tommy’s favorite sport, however, had always been skateboarding. He mastered the sport over time, and as an older teenager, he even won the local Monster Skate Series competition at the Atascadero Skate Park.
In addition to this, Tommy took guitar lessons for many years. We always enjoyed listening to him practice from the other room. One of our proudest moments was when he and some friends, “The A-Town Boys,” played as a band at the Carlton Hotel, at a fundraiser for a very dear friend of ours who was battling cancer.
Tommy was a well-traveled young man. Many vacations were spent traveling around the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean, visiting friends and family. When he was seventeen, we traveled to Europe, visiting England, France, and Spain. Tommy made friends wherever we went. To him, there was never a language barrier. He had a youthful appreciation of people everywhere, and he easily felt at home wherever we went.
Tommy joined the Cub Scouts at age six, and achieved the rank of Life Scout prior to turning eighteen. He learned a lot about life through scouting, and had many adventures with them over the years. White water rafting trips became one of his favorites. His favorite camp was Catalina Island, but he enjoyed them all, year after year.
High school did not go as well for Tommy, due to being bullied, starting in ninth grade.
By tenth grade, he was struggling with his self-esteem. He carried this burden for many years, and was finally retaking control of his life with the help of a local therapist, whom he truly cherished. Tommy was making plans for his future. He had developed new friendships with a few young men who were truly kind to him. He was working on expanding his cactus sale business, which he had been nurturing since age twelve. He was adept at using the computer, and was doing a brisk online cactus sale business. His focus was on water-wise landscaping, which he advertised on his Instagram and Facebook sites, @805xeriscape. He had recently purchased a 2001 Chevy pickup to expand his sales at local flea markets. Tommy had also recently planted a new cactus and succulent garden, with the help of a friend. This was his own garden, carefully laid out, in a section of our back yard. Tommy was 21, and he was working hard on getting his life together. He was an outstanding artist, and has left behind a vast collection of his detailed stencil art.
Tommy had an admiration for those who helped others, and he often stood up for the underdog. His friends often described him as kind, smart, and funny. They told our family that Tommy always had a kind word for everyone, and would often brighten their day.
Tommy was looking forward to the future.
On September 14th, 2019, he ventured out with an acquaintance: 56-year-old David A. Knight of Atascadero. They had communicated for several weeks about their shared appreciation for art. They left our house to view artwork at Cal Poly, but instead, Mr. Knight took him to the Frog & Peach Pub in San Luis Obispo, six hours later.
This man had an open tab, and Tommy was served five to six shots of whiskey in an hour’s time; an amount that brought his blood alcohol level to 0.38.
Tommy died that night.
What was this man thinking? Can anyone help us understand what happened? Perhaps the bartenders, patrons at the bar, passersby in the pedestrian walkway near the movie theater, or anyone in the parking structures, may have information to share. Please contact us.