Tommy J. Hensley

“I’m going under.” These were the last words spoken by Tommy Hensley. Jesus had come to take him away, but he wasn’t going to go without letting his wife know first. For months he had been telling everyone how ready he was to go home, and when the time finally came he submitted wholeheartedly. The minute his body failed as a conduit of expression for his soul was the minute he was ready to be in the arms of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and now here He was to finally relieve Tommy of his burdens.

If one were to have looked at him in his final days, a few things would have stood out: His gnarled but still mighty hands, leathery from hard work, and misshapen from arthritis: his skin too was leathery and brown after years of working under the Arizona sun. His body was shrunken and bent over, but if one were to have wrestled with him there he would have quickly found out that this was a man with countless years of strength built inside him, and he was capable of using it like an old ram.

No one seeing this could come to the conclusion that this was a man who squandered the gift of life. God had given him a body for working hard, and Tommy Hensley was never a man who shirked a hard day’s work. He took pride in everything he did, and made sure that, when the job was done, it had been completed to the highest degree he was capable of.

Tommy Joe Hensley was born October 7th, 1942 in Ajo, Arizona to Marvin and Ola Pearl Hensley, where he grew up the middle child of six. Shortly after High School, he began laying down track for the local copper mine, later becoming an electrician’s apprentice. After completing his apprenticeship, he continued on at the copper mine, climbing poles and stringing cable, which he did for 13 years. On January 2nd, 1964 he married the love of his life, and settled down in Ajo, where the couple had three children. In 1977 they moved to Green River, Wyoming, where he got a job at a trona mine, working there for 19 years. They lived there lived there until 2002, when Tommy got a revelation from the lord, and so they packed up and moved in with their daughter and son-in-law in Pocatello, helping raise their grandchildren. This was especially poignant after the death of their son-in-law in 2005, proving God had moved Tommy where he needed him, and he obeyed. He remained in Pocatello for the rest of his life.

Tommy had a great love for the outdoors, whether it was fishing, hunting, or even just taking morning or afternoon strolls; but he especially loved working in his garden, which was his pride and joy. Most of all he loved God, and would often take the chance to talk with anyone who would listen about Jesus and the ways he had changed his life. He was ornery and stubborn, but selfless to a fault; no one who knew him could ever accuse him of being miserly, for he gave freely to the homeless and the poor, but most of all he freely gave his love to anyone who would take the time to talk with him. He reminds us all to be more outgoing.

Tommy is preceded in death by his parents, Marvin and Ola Pearl, his older brother, Ken Hensley, and his son-in-law, David Bowers. He is survived by his wife, Vivian Hensley; his children, Vickie Meyers, Dwayne Hensley, and Shane Hensley; his siblings Marvin Hensley, Barbara Maynard, Norma Yocum, and Phyllis Hickson; and his Grandchildren, SheaLa, Robbie, Jonathan, Joshua, Emi, and Crystal, as well as four great-grandchildren. His loved ones take comfort in the fact that he is smiling down from heaven, always reminding them to work harder and to be more loving.