Thomas Holmer

Thomas I. Holmer was in the grocery business throughout his life, and was perhaps best known locally for opening the National Food Store on the lakefront in downtown Port Washington in 1960.

He worked for National Food Store for 20 years, starting as a youth when he was a stock boy at one of the chain’s Milwaukee markets. He held various positions until he was offered his own store in Port, his wife Ginny said.

After the Port store closed, he and several others from the grocery started DeGeorge and Holmer Inc., a food brokerage firm, where he worked for 23 years before retiring in about 1995.

When pondering a career, his wife said, the grocery business always appealed to her husband.

“He thought, people always need to eat,” she said.

Mr. Holmer, who lived in Port Washington, died of glioblastoma brain cancer Monday, March 12, at Kathy Hospice in West Bend. He was 81.

Mr. Holmer was diagnosed with the disease in May 2017, his wife said.

Mr. Homer was born in Milwaukee on Sept. 26, 1936, to Jacob and Cecelia Wittig Holmer.

He married Virginia Tews on Aug. 16, 1958, at St. Anne’s Church in Milwaukee.

Mr. Holmer served in the U.S. Air Force for a year, stationed in France during the Berlin crisis.

He was a detail-oriented person, his wife said.

“He was a numbers person,” she said. “When we played games, he kept score.”

But he also indulged his creative side. Mr. Holmer and his wife spent several months each year in Florida during retirement, and he enjoyed collecting shells at Sanibel Island.

He used those shells to create beautiful works of art, including birdhouses bedecked with the shells, wreaths, candlesticks, Christmas ornaments, a jewelry box, lamp and flowers — “You would never know they were shells, they were so delicate,” his wife said.

Mr. Holmer enjoyed bowling, golfing, fishing and hunting, as well as gardening, playing dominoes and cards and visiting casinos.

He was also a handyman, his wife said.

“Tom could fix anything,” she said, adding he learned some skills from his father and the rest “on the fly.”

The couple enjoyed traveling for work and pleasure throughout the U.S. and abroad, visiting such places as Norway and Tahiti.

“When we traveled, he always made sure we were home for holidays and birthdays and events,” his wife said.

Mr. Holmer did a good job balancing work and family, she added.

“He made sure family was first, but work made it possible for them to have a good life,” she said.

He passed his work ethic on to his family. she added.

 “He was honest and reliable, gentle, smart and had a strong work ethic,” his wife said. “He was down to earth.    

“He made a go of life. He loved living every way he could.”

Mr. Holmer is survived by his wife Ginny of Port Washington; children Cheryl (Michael) Cornell of Port Washington, Kathleen (Mark) Tushaus of Brookfield and Ronald (Amy) of Wauwatosa; grandchildren David and Jennifer Cornell, Benjamin and Thomas Tushaus and Amanda, Sarah and Nicole Holmer.

He is further survived by his sister Barbara Librera of Tucson, Ariz., and brother John of Kentucky.

A funeral service for Mr. Holmer will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 24, at Eernisse Funeral Home in Port Washington.Deacon Tom Surges will officiate.

Visitation will be at the funeral home Saturday from 11 a.m. until the service.

Entombment will follow the service at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, Port Washington.