Thomas Milton Racer

Thomas Milton Racer was born on April 5th, 1944 in Pontiac Michigan to Thomas W. Racer and Bessie Pulford Racer. He departed this life on November 29th, 2024 at home and left to join the Lord at the age of 80.

Known as Tom to most people, and Paw to his grandchildren, he was raised in St. Albans, WV and graduated from St. Albans High School in 1962, but lived most of his life in Hamlin, WV. He joined the US Army right out of high school and spent the next five years serving his country while stationed in West Germany, Fort Lewis, WA, and serving in the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam before finishing his military career at Fort Knox, KY. 

During a leave 1964, Tom met the love of his life, Barbara Reynolds, and they married in January 1965. She stuck with him throughout his many travels and endeavors, even when they involved moving across the country to the outskirts of Seattle. Together they raised two children and six grandchildren. 

In 1980, at the age of 36, Tom enrolled at the East Tennessee School of Preaching, taking his family and moving to Karns, TN. This would set him on the path through which most people knew him. He graduated in 1982 and began preaching full time at the Round Knob Church of Christ in Hillsville, VA. He later also received his Bachelor’s Degree in Biblical Studies from the Southeastern Institute of Biblical Studies. In 1984, he returned to West Virginia as the minister of the Barboursville Church of Christ, where he met his close friend and honorary brother Rob Prichard.

For the next 40 years, he ministered and led several congregations, including the Hurricane Church of Christ, Griffithsville Church of Christ, and Hamlin Church of Christ. Intermittently throughout his life, Tom also worked as a truck driver, and briefly salesman. This made him something of a backseat driver who never missed the opportunity to tell you that he could “back a 40-foot trailer” into the parking space you were struggling with. 

Tom was a man of many quirks and eccentricities, just ask his grandsons about the precise instructions he gave for mowing his yard or anyone that ever shared a meal with him about how literally he took the word “shared”. He loved college football, a good meatloaf, and a comfy flannel shirt. But above all else, he was a man of great faith and conviction. He devoted his life to love for his family, for his country, and for his God. 

He is preceded in death by his parents, step-mother Jewel Racer, sisters Jo, Judy, and Jane, and twin brother Dick. He is survived by his wife Barbara, daughter April (Louis) Pridemore, son Andy (Keree) Racer, grandchildren Daniel, Levi, Benjamin, Kaelyn, Amelia, and Avery, and the many people whose lives he touched in his 80 years on this earth. In every home his family lived in, he always displayed an excerpt of his favorite bible verse, Joshua 24:15-

“As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord”.

 Funeral services will be 1:00pm Wednesday December 4, 2024 at Handley Funeral Home, Hamlin, WV with Rob Prichard and Charlie McKinney officiating. The burial will follow in Fairview Memory Gardens, Hamlin, WV. A visitation will be two hours prior to the funeral. Condolences can be left at www.handleyfh.com.