Tom Rankin was born in Maywood Illinois, a suburb of Chicago on May 7, 1934, where his father worked for one of the city’s famous hardware stores. His mother’s Danish immigrant family had roots in the Midwest; her father was a blacksmith in Iowa.
His parents met on a Chicago bridle path and married on horseback, his mother resplendent in an all-white riding habit. They loaded their horses onto a steamer and took them along on their honeymoon to Niagara Falls. Adventure, it turns out, ran in the family.
Tom grew up in University Park, Dallas, when neighborhoods had stables, and spent his boyhood on horseback. A fast, long-legged athlete, he ran track and played football at Highland Park High School, then ran track at the University of Texas. He was brilliant at math, which changed his life. While studying petroleum engineering at UT,he tutored a fellow student, Sharon in math, and ended up marrying her. Whatever she learned, it must have been enough. They were married for 60 years.
After graduation, Tom went to work in the oil fields of East Texas and Louisiana, then moved to New York and Chicago with Standard of Indiana. He took his family overseas and things got interesting. He lived and worked onshore and offshore in Africa, the Middle East, and South America.
He capped a well fire in South Africa that Red Adair's company wouldn't touch. He worked alongside the famed Leakey family of archaeologists while exploring sites in the Rift Valley. From the Peruvian Amazon, he brought home wild birds and a margay, a small jungle cat, as family pets.
The Rankin household abroad was part zoo, part stable, and part circus, with Arabian horses, dogs, cats, and birds all under one roof. Back home, his family remembers laughter and glorious mayhem: chasing ponies through the yard, water fights that got out of hand, and pony-cart rides through the fields with his son and daughter in tow. Tom and Sharon both had mischievous, naughty senses of humor, and their dinner table was where the best stories were told, usually with a straight face and a twinkle. Tom was funny. Everyone who knew him will tell you so.
After a long stretch in Houston, Tom moved back to Dallas and settled at Highland Springs, where he made new friends, found old ones from his boyhood, and lived close to family.
Sharon preceded him in death. He is survived by his son, Jack Rankin; his daughter-in-law, Norma; his daughter, Tyra, his granddaughters, Alicia and Laura; and sister Janice and her family.
Services
Graveside Service
Sat. Oct. 3, 2026
3:00 pm
Memorial Oaks Cemetery
13001 Katy Freeway
Houston ,TX77079.
Memorial Oaks Cemetery
Houston ,TX77079.
Tom Rankin was born in Maywood Illinois, a suburb of Chicago on May 7, 1934, where his father worked for one of the city’s famous hardware stores. His mother’s Danish immigrant family had roots in the Midwest; her father was a blacksmith in Iowa.
His parents met on a Chicago bridle path and married on horseback, his mother resplendent in an all-white riding habit. They loaded their horses onto a steamer and took them along on their honeymoon to Niagara Falls. Adventure, it turns out, ran in the family.
Tom grew up in University Park, Dallas, when neighborhoods had stables, and spent his boyhood on horseback. A fast, long-legged athlete, he ran track and played football at Highland Park High School, then ran track at the University of Texas. He was brilliant at math, which changed his life. While studying petroleum engineering at UT,he tutored a fellow student, Sharon in math, and ended up marrying her. Whatever she learned, it must have been enough. They were married for 60 years.
After graduation, Tom went to work in the oil fields of East Texas and Louisiana, then moved to New York and Chicago with Standard of Indiana. He took his family overseas and things got interesting. He lived and worked onshore and offshore in Africa, the Middle East, and South America.
He capped a well fire in South Africa that Red Adair's company wouldn't touch. He worked alongside the famed Leakey family of archaeologists while exploring sites in the Rift Valley. From the Peruvian Amazon, he brought home wild birds and a margay, a small jungle cat, as family pets.
The Rankin household abroad was part zoo, part stable, and part circus, with Arabian horses, dogs, cats, and birds all under one roof. Back home, his family remembers laughter and glorious mayhem: chasing ponies through the yard, water fights that got out of hand, and pony-cart rides through the fields with his son and daughter in tow. Tom and Sharon both had mischievous, naughty senses of humor, and their dinner table was where the best stories were told, usually with a straight face and a twinkle. Tom was funny. Everyone who knew him will tell you so.
After a long stretch in Houston, Tom moved back to Dallas and settled at Highland Springs, where he made new friends, found old ones from his boyhood, and lived close to family.
Sharon preceded him in death. He is survived by his son, Jack Rankin; his daughter-in-law, Norma; his daughter, Tyra, his granddaughters, Alicia and Laura; and sister Janice and her family.
Guest Book