Thomas E. Canaday

Elkhorn — Thomas E. Canaday, age 68, died on March 11, 2016 at his home surrounded by his family after a short battle with brain cancer. Tom Canaday was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa on March 19, 1947. He was the first of 3 children to Vern and Jeanne Canaday. He is survived by his wife Karen, his mother Jeanne Hosier of Des Moines, a brother James (Heike) Canaday of North Port, Florida, a sister Patricia (Steve) Frost of Yukon, Oklahoma, two children, Matt (Danica) Canaday of Lincoln and Susan (Tim) Farkas of Elkhorn. He also leaves behind four granddaughters, Grace, Eliana, Abby, and Olivia. Tom grew up in Council Bluffs and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School with honors in 1965. He attended Iowa State University before being drafted into the Army. After training at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, he was stationed in Germany to repair turrets on tanks during the Vietnam War. In 1971 he was married to his wife Karen and started his family in Des Moines, Iowa where he worked at Des Moines Steel as a steel fitter and chief shop steward. After getting his BS from Iowa State in Business he became a CPA and worked for the State of Iowa as an auditor. In 1975 he joined Stevenson & Co. as a CPA. In 1980 he moved his family to Holdrege, Nebraska where he managed Holdrege Family Medical Clinic for 18 years. After his children both graduated from Holdrege High school, he moved briefly to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1998 to serve as a clinic manager and then settled in Omaha, Nebraska in 1999. In 2000 he was diagnosed with throat cancer and after a year-long courageous battle he beat it. He began working for National Indemnity Company in 2001 where he worked for 15 years. While in Holdrege, Tom was proud to have been the president of Kiwanis club as well as official Easter Bunny for the Annual Kiwanis Easter Egg Hunt. He served as treasurer for the First Baptist Church and was an active member of the Holdrege Country Club and loved to play golf as often as possible. Every day he would be happy to work on his Jumble and Sudoku from the newspaper. His other passion was doing home improvement projects and he always went out of his way to create new and fun activities for his four granddaughters who were his pride and joy. Services will be held this Monday 11:00am at Covenant Presbyterian Church. 15002 Blondo Street, Omaha, NE 68116.

Thomas E. Canaday

March 19, 1947 - March 11, 2016