There is a disturbance in the Force this New Year’s Day as I mourn the recent tragic death of my childhood friend Tom Srsa.

I met Tom and our mutual friend Rocky Persaud in Ms. Kavanaugh’s second grade class at Massey Public School in Brampton, Ontario. One of my first memories of Tom was of our seven-year-old selves debating whether a car burned more fuel going faster or slower. Tom correctly knew the former whereas I bizarrely believed the latter. Given my subsequent adult career in aerospace engineering, I would understand if you find my childhood misunderstanding of basic science disturbing.

Tom and Rocky and I remained close through high school and into adulthood. It was in high school that we shared a mutual dream to become writers. I vividly remember a brilliant poem Tom wrote about a person facing a mysterious twin with an uncanny ability to precisely mimic their every move until they hold up a dinner plate and see the words “ANIHC NI EDAM”. Tom and Rocky and I would share stories we had written. They were my first writing group, my first beta readers. The three of us spent countless Tuesday evenings at the movie theatre, making good use of the discount night to take in the (often dubious) film classics of that era. We were never the cool kids in high school, but Tom played the saxophone in senior stage band which I thought was pretty darn cool.

Tom was a lifelong Star Wars fan whereas I tended to prefer Star Trek, but this was his way and it would have been illogical of me to debate him. He always saw the best in everyone and everything, making his way through life with a big smile and a wondrous happy-go-lucky attitude, guided by his unwavering belief that just because a day started badly doesn’t mean it has to end that way. The Force of Goodness was strong in him.

Tom will continue to live in the hearts and memories of his family and friends, in his children Adrian, Michael and Maya, and in the thousands of students whose lives he enriched over a long teaching career at Bishop Francis Allen elementary school.