Tom Piper Memorial

If you have pictures or stories about Tom, please forward them to me. I will post them here.

Tom touched many DevCon attendees. He was open, warm, and cordial to everyone. He will be missed.
 

At the Miami DevCon in 2000, Tom had been drinking until late one night and did not have all his faculties with him when he went to bed. The next morning, he appeared wearing a bandage on his forehead and nose. His story was that he slipped in the shower. I don't know how he could have been injured the way he was from slipping in the shower. Rumors were that the alcohol got the best of him on his way back to his room.

Tom was well known for going barefoot or just wearing his flip-flops, which he called "flippies". One freezing cold February in Toledo, OH, we were ready to go out to dinner. Tom showed up in the hotel lobby wearing shorts and his flippies. With the wind chill, the temperature was easily below zero.

In Spring, 2001, Tom came to Utah on business. He stayed one night at my house. In the morning, he was ready for his meeting, wearing slacks and dress shoes. It never occurred to me to get a picture of this until after he'd left. -- Craig Berntson
 

I added a slide to my DevCon session and told this story at the beginning of each of my sessions as well as at the Toast to Tom. [At each DevCon, there is a toast to Tom Rettig. This year, Tom Piper was added to the toast -- Ed]

I met Tom Piper at the Palm Springs DevCon in 99. We played a game of pool and I won! Wow! Tom didn't like being beat by a woman. He repeatedly challenged me to a rematch during the conference but I kept refusing, which drove him nuts . which made it even more fun to refuse.

From that moment on, Tom and I began our annual billiards tournament. At each conference, we made it a point to search out a pool table and play a 2-out-of-3 match. I don't think I ever won after that first time, but it didn't really matter. I just liked the fun we had playing.

I was really looking forward to another challenge this year. Ironically, it wasn't just Tom's presence that was missed at the conference, there wasn't a pool table either! -- Cathy Pountney