Thomas (Tom) L. Sunde was born on August 15, 1944, in Estherville, Iowa, the son of Elvin and Sylvia (Lilland) Sunde. He passed away on May 9, 2025, at Valley Vue Care Center in Armstrong, Iowa.
Per Tom’s wishes, no services will be held.
Tom grew up on the family farm northeast of Estherville, graduated from Estherville High School in 1962 and from Estherville Junior College in 1964. He served in the US Army from 1966 to 1968 and was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska, as an MP where he was delighted to spend most of his free time playing on the Post’s volleyball team. Tom returned to Estherville in 1968 to partner with his father on the family farm. Tom was very athletic and excelled in basketball and tennis. He was well-known for his tennis abilities in the Lakes Region and he could often be seen finishing his farm work quickly and heading to the Lakes to play tennis.
Tom was very sensitive to animals, loved children, played the trombone and the piano, enjoyed being outdoors, and was involved in 4-H with cattle and hogs as projects. He was a good writer and storyteller and could entertain with stories about his early life. He was a fiercely competitive person from the time he was a child, whether it be playing softball, “cops and robbers”, target-shooting, or playing ping-pong with his brother. He liked to tell the story about winning the junior high ping-pong tournament with a cast on his right arm and playing left-handed. As an adult, he always insisted on striving for perfection in sports and card-playing. In 1977, he was in a motorcycle accident that resulted in paralysis and that tough spirit no doubt enabled him to spend the last 48 years of his life in a wheelchair. In 1978 after rehabilitation, he resided in Sioux Falls and participated and excelled in wheelchair basketball through the Paralyzed Veterans of America organization and traveled to various local, regional and national competitions, amassing quite a selection of trophies in wheelchair sports. It was not uncommon for him to be honored as MVP in tournaments. He also participated in wheelchair softball, ping pong, and tennis. After more than a decade of traveling and competing, he returned to Estherville, living on the family farm, participating in a local pool league, mowing the park-like grounds of the farm, planting trees, riding a custom trike motorcycle, and providing care for his mother after his father passed away.
In 2020, his health necessitated that he move into a care facility and he moved to Valley Vue Care Center in Armstrong, where he was an avid reader, enjoyed watching every sport on TV, called the Bingo numbers, and sang karaoke. .
He was preceded in death by his parents.
Left to cherish his memory are his brother, Charles (Kolleen) Sunde of Fargo, ND; and sisters, Jean (Reuben) Peterson of West Lafayette, IN, and Connie Krosschell of Bellingham, WA; nieces Sonia Peterson, Abby (Adam) Tow; and nephews: Beau (Shauna) Sunde, Ben Sunde, Nathan Peterson, and Rocky (Jenna) Krosschell.
