Thomas Tlam

Tom Tlam of Bainbridge Island died suddenly from natural causes on March 12, 2018 at age 65.

Tom was an avid sailor from his Minnetonka boyhood. An Evergreen High School guidance counselor, to whom we are forever grateful, took the time to know him well and urged him to apply to the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association’s union-sponsored training academy in Baltimore, leading to a long and successful career at sea from which he retired as a chief engineer. He later worked on land as a plant engineer, including at the Eagle Harbor creosote plant Superfund site, and, at the time of his death, at Bangor.

Tom moved to Eagle Harbor with his first live-aboard sailboat, Tercal, around 1976. A longtime member of the Poulsbo Yacht Club, his latest boat was Rain Shadow. He enjoyed anything related to being on the water and was adept at fixing anything at sea or aground.

Predeceased by his parents Elvin and Evonne Tlam, Tom is survived by his sister Cheryl Tlam (Harold Foster) of Bainbridge Island and his niece Anna Tlam Foster of Ann Arbor as well as his stepmother Leah Stewart and stepsiblings Don Stewart (Bertie), Diane Stewart (Nick), and Sandra Streeter (Jeff) and nephews Sam and Robert Streeter.

Tom lived a good, honorable and caring life with a large network of friends and family across the country, to whom he was devoted. He is and will be missed.