Thomas McIntyre passed away peacefully on June 30, and by all accounts has gone on a heavenly fishing trip with those friends and family who have gone on ahead of him. He was born on July 21, 1933 in Madison, WI to James and Josephine (Maier) McIntyre. After graduating from Lodi High School in 1952, he went into the then relatively new United States Air Force, where he served honorably. It was in the Air Force that he began his lifelong mission of serving people, first as a Medical Corpsman in Korea and later working for the Mendota Mental Health Institute as a resident care technician. There he met his future wife, Joyce McDermott, who was working as an LPN. They married in 1955 and continued to work together in the health care field. In the early 1970s, Tom turned his attention from supervising employees at the Columbia County Home in Wyocena to work in the A.O.D.A. field, where he became well known. Dad worked to open a number of halfway houses in the state to assist those who had been struggling with alcohol addiction to get back on their feet. Among his specialties was work with residential treatment/transitional living outpatient programs, including intoxicated driver and social detox programs. He also supervised a number of programs dealing with everything from three-quarter way houses to extended care and residential inpatient facilities. He always worked to make sure the monies for patient care were being spent wisely. His years of work in A.O.D.A. led to a counselor of the year award from the National Rural Institute on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse. This honor meant a great deal to him as a counselor to rural populations in Wisconsin. Even in retirement, he continued to be someone who showed compassion and a helpful attitude to those struggling with addictions. He is known and loved by many of the "Friends of Bill W." who were either helped by Tom or inspired by his work to go into counseling themselves. In 2004, Tom started dialysis. Even then, he volunteered his time to speak with groups of kidney patients about how to do at-home dialysis, which he believed offered a greater level of freedom than going to a center three days a week. He was always happy to help and share his knowledge. Tom greatly enjoyed "coon hunting" (especially with his favorite Bluetick coonhound "Ike") and spent many years in pursuit of the sport of hunting raccoon. At the same time, if he found baby raccoons while out and about he would often take them in and his family would raise them until they were old enough to fend for themselves. It wasn't an uncommon sight to see a young raccoon scampering around the McIntyre house, getting into things, and sometimes demanding cereal and other treats. Fishing was another favorite sport, and he spent many hours happily fishing for crappie, bluegill, sunfish and more with friends and family. He was a wonderful grandparent. His grandchildren adored him, and he was loving and patient with them, always encouraging and very proud of them all. In his final year he loved conspiring with Layne and Jocelyn (particularly when it came to sneaking in some extra bacon when nobody was looking). He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Joyce, and brother Gerald. He is survived by his children Jim of Pardeeville, John (Gene) of Bradenton, FL, Jody (Karl Kletzien) of Madison and Jeri (fiancé Mickey Rochon) of DeForest and two sisters (Elyn Lutes and Joanne Hill). He is also survived by his beloved grandchildren Astrid, John Jr., Jocelyn and Layne. His many cherished friends are too numerous to list, but include good friends Jerry Radl and Bridget Olson. The family would like to thank the Wisconsin Dialysis Center, Dr. Greg Sheehy, the Wm. S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, and Belmont Nursing and Rehabilitation. Every health care worker who touched our lives with Dad was a credit to their profession and reminded us of what both our parents stood for. Thank you for putting the patient first, as they did when they were working. Visitation is scheduled from 9:00 a.m. until time of service on Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at the Becker-Beal Funeral Home, 109 Greenway Cross, Belleville, WI. Funeral services will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at the Becker-Beal Funeral Home in Belleville with burial in the St. James Cemetery. Donations in Tom's name can be made to the Veteran's Assistance Foundation, a program geared to help our veteran men and women of Wisconsin. Goodbye, Dad. Now you can do that traveling you've been itching to do again. If you ever find out what really happened at the Battle of Little Big Horn, send us a sign, ok? God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.