By John Montesano
The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club Herschel Luckinbill Veteran of the Month for January is Tom Banning.
Tom, born March 10, 1945, grew up in St. Clair, Mich.. He lived just a few blocks from downtown and the St. Clair River. He played high school basketball, football, and tennis, and was graduated from St. Clair High School in May 1963. 03 March 1964, after trying junior college, Tom joined the U.S. Air Force. After basic training in Texas, he attended nine months of tech school for armament electrical technician at Lowry AFB, Denver, Colo.. In December 1965, he was sent to Walker AFB, Roswell, N.M.. where he worked on B-52s. He helped in the closing of the Base. In June 1967, with only a skeleton crew left, he transferred to Wurtsmith AFB, Iscoda, Mich.. to work on B-52s, but first had to be certified on the newer B-52G model and after six months of school, was back on the flight line in early 1968.
At Wurtsmith AFB, he was married to Cherie 05 Aug. 1967 and they lived off base in a Summer cottage until his discharge. He first met Cherie in 1966 on a blind date and stayed in touch mostly by letter until they got married. Tom received his honorable discharge 02 March 1968. He and Cherie moved to Port Huron, Mich..
In 1968, Tom worked for TRW, specializing in power steering and early stages of anti-lock brakes development. In 1972, he went to work at a new plant of Amoco/Dome Petroleum. Entirely on a part-time basis, he went back to school from 1972 to 1981, and earned an associates degree at Port Huron Junior College; and a bachelor’s degree in management economics at Oakland University in Oakland, Mich..
In 1983, he was promoted to terminal manager. In January 1986, he was transferred to the Chicago terminal as safety coordinator while living at the Marriott. In mid-1968, the family was reunited, when they bought a house in Naperville. In 1986, he went back to school to be a safety engineer through the National Safety Council. After 12 years, Tom was promoted to corporate safety as a safety engineer to oversee 37 terminals and traveled around the country. In 1992, he was back in school for certified safety professionals through American Association of Safety Engineers. In 1999-2003, he worked at the Joliet Chemical Plant as the coordinating safety engineer. He oversaw security and was even the fire chief because every plant had its own fire department.
In 2003, Tom retired after 31 years with BP, which had bought out Amoco. After retirement, he had various consulting jobs; worked with environmental groups; and taught safety/OSHA for Three River Mfg Assoc.
In 2001, he and Cherie moved to Yorkville and in 2021 moved to Somonauk. They raised one daughter and two sons and have eight grandchildren, one great grandchild with two on the way.
Tom’s family background includes military service in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI and WWII. His son, Dave, is a retired Air Force master sergeant, who served 1992-2016. He was an aircraft loadmaster and did deploy to Afghanistan. His son, T.J., is a successful owner/operator of five Rosati’s Pizza locations.
Tom emphasized that: “Without my wife (Cherie) of 54 years, most of my accomplishments wouldn’t have been possible, especially with her medical issues of 15 spinal fusions, almost all joints replaced, and having to raise the kids when I was gone on business trips, or at school.”