Thomas Edward Jarrell

Thomas Edward Jarrell died peacefully at home April 17th. Born into a Navy family in Portsmouth, VA February 9th 1970, the fourth of five children of Jerry and Lois (Seacrist) Jarrell, Thomas was the lifelong victim of Cerebral Palsy which ultimately took his life. He is survived by his parents; sisters Nancy (Greg) Wilson, Donna Carrroll, Laura Adams, and Catherine (Stan) Morgan; ten nieces and nephews and 19 grand-nieces and nephews. Tom was much traveled, first with his navy family to Guam and then the Monterey Bay area of California, but later to Miami, Florida where his father worked at the National Hurricane Center. There, Tom graduated from Homestead High School and there, along with mother and grandmother, weathered Category 5 Hurricane Andrew in 1992. After graduation, Tom participated in assisted work programs of Miami-Dade County. When his father retired in 2000, the family moved back to California where Tom continued in California state programs similar to those of Miami-Dade County. He was in these same type programs for several years after the family moved to Bend, Oregon in 2004. He was no longer eligible for those programs when Gov. Kate Brown excluded a class of the most needy from participation about ten years ago. Since then, Tom has been pretty much homebound with some support from weekly or bi-weekly companion visits who took him out into the community. Some of these companions became as close as family and are some of our family’s favorite memories of those years. For the past several months that companion was his niece, Rebekah Pruitt, who was also his primary care giver, and his best friend. Through the travels and all the programs, Tom’s sense of humor and his stalwart love for the Lord Jesus are what most people remember about him. Even though Tom was severely disabled his positive outlook and “signature” smile significantly impacted those he met. Without saying a word, he had a way of making us all appreciate what we have and making us want to do better. Visitation will be held on Monday, April 27 at Redmond Memorial Chapel, Redmond, Oregon from 1--2:00 pm with service following. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers contributions to St. Jude Children’s hospital.

Thomas Edward Jarrell

February 9, 1970 - April 17, 2026