Service, Community, and Heart
Tom Jeffas was born on July 25, 1935, in Jersey City, New Jersey, one of ten children in a household where hard work and looking out for each other were not optional. By the age of eight, he was delivering bakery goods before school and handing every penny to his mother so she could put food on the table for the family. That instinct to provide, to share, to make sure nobody around him went without, never left him.
After high school, Tom joined the United States Army and served as a Military Policeman from 1955 to 1958, earning an honorable discharge at the rank of Sergeant. He continued with Army Reserves and built his career in transportation, everything from being a driver to then building his own company to help transport patients in need for eye care services.
When Tom retired and moved to Raritan Township to be closer to his grandchildren, he poured his energy into the work that mattered most to him: feeding his community. He helped to build the Hope House in Flemington into what it is today and spent his last 15 years ensuring anyone in the community who needed food never went without if he could help them. It was, by his family's account, one of his biggest and most cherished roles. In recognition of his years of service, the food pantry at Hope House was dedicated in Tom's memory after he passed.
Tom married Donna in July of 1961, and raised a family of 6 children who all remember their dad the same way: a loving, strong provider who truly cared about his community, could always tease the neighbors, loved his NJ Giants, Opera and walking his dog, but what he was most proud of were his kids, grandkids and the work all of the volunteers did at Hope House.
Tom died as he lived, in service of others. He was delivering food to someone in need when he took a bad fall that he did not recover from. He passed on October 1, 2021, at 86, surrounded by the family he built. It brings us peace to know he was doing what he loved, caring for his neighbors, right up to the very end.
Every July, around what would have been his birthday, his family carries on what he started. This drive is how we keep his memory alive, along with the memory of all those we love who shared his values.
