Thomas M. Bodkin

Published 12:00 am Thursday, October 23, 2008

Thomas Mount Bodkin, 88, of Bowling Green died at 3:50 p.m. Oct. 20, 2008, at a Bowling Green nursing home.

The Bardwell native was born April 25, 1920. He was a self-employed insurance agent, president of Bodkin Insurance and Real Estate Inc. and a State Farm agent. He had been a vice president and director of Bardwell Deposit Bank. He was a charter member of Bardwell Lions Club, which sponsored Boy Scout Troop 63, where he was a Scout master. He received a 20-year service pin from the BSA Four Rivers Council Paducah Area. He was a World War II and Korean War Navy veteran and a member of the VFW. Tom served as a storekeeper and photographer on a LSM in the South Pacific area during World War II. He was called back from Inactive Reserves by the Navy and had his time extended a year and served as a storekeeper at a Naval Base in Sasebo, Japan. Tom enjoyed hiking, hunting and fishing with his sons on his farm. He introduced his family to camping and the grandchildren liked to hike and fish even if they had to clean what they caught. Tom was a member of Forest Park Baptist Church and attended the adult men’s Sunday school class and the Bible study group, Feed My Sheep. He also enjoyed the evangelistic work of the Grow Committee. He was a past president of the Bowling Green-Warren County Chapter of the AARP and a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. He was a son of the late Oscar Bodkin and Roxie Mount Bodkin. He was preceded in death by a son, Christopher Lee Bodkin.

Funeral is at 1 p.m. Saturday at Forest Park Baptist Church. Cremation was chosen. Visitation is from noon to 1 p.m. Saturday at the church. J.C. Kirby & Son Funeral Home, Broadway Avenue chapel, is in charge of arrangements.

Expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to Forest Park Baptist Church Building Fund, 520 Old Morgantown Road, Bowling Green, KY 42101.

Survivors include his wife, Mary Key Bodkin; two sons, Ken Harlan Bodkin and his wife, Patricia, of Bowling Green and Frank Mount Bodkin and his wife, Debra, of Lexington; two sisters, Barbara Ford of Paducah and Virginia Purkel of O’Fallon, Ill.; a sister-in-law, Barbara Harlan of Carmi, Ill.; six grandchildren, Teressa Leann Dowdy of Clinton, Nathan Bodkin of Lexington, Dawn Hawkins, Leigh Anne Cumbee and Leslie Cumbee, all of Bowling Green, and Melissa Bilyeu of Auburn; and seven great-grandchildren, Lexi Walton, Rylie Hawkins, Trevor Hawkins, Zane Hawkins, Cade Hawkins, Hazel Grace Bilyeu and baby Katie Dowdy on the way.