Thomas F. Hovey, Ii

RICHFIELD SPRINGS-Thomas Francis Hovey II age 91 passed away peacefully on Thursday afternoon November 5, 2020 in Bassett Medical Center, Cooperstown.  He had the support and comfort of his loving life partner Polly at his side.  He was born on October 3, 1929 in Worcester, MA, son of the late Thomas Francis Sr. and Mary Alice Kennedy Hovey.  He was raised in Worcester and was a graduate of Saint John's High School.  He furthered his education attending Worcester Tech and was a graduate of Holy Cross University.  Upon graduating from Holy Cross, he enlisted in the US Army and served during the Korean War.  In 1969 he was united in marriage to the former Lillian White.  She preceded him in death on May 24, 2000.  Thomas was a Physics Major in college and had worked on the NASA Space Capsule.  With this background he went to work for the General Electric Company in Utica and later at Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome NY as a civil engineer for the US Department of Defense.  He retired in 1995.  Tom had a strong belief in God and was a member of Saint Joseph the Worker RC Church, Richfield Springs.
Tom was known for his athletic abilities and his string of successes in three sports; golf, running and speed skating. At the local, state, national and international levels over the past half-century, these abilities appear limitless.
He has captured the age group award in five marathons, as well as in the Utica Boilermaker Road Race and Berkshire 15K. To date, he has completed 70 marathons. As a member of the Syracuse Chargers in the 1980's, he won two national cross-country championships.
Tom could be called the father of the Utica Boilermaker, now the nation's largest 15-kilometer road race with more than 9,000 (now more than 15,000) runners. He designed and measured the course leading to its inaugural run in 1977 and obtained its USATF certification.
Tom has established course records at seven golf courses in New York State and Massachusetts. In 2001, at age 71, he shot a course record 30 at the nine-hole Otsego Golf Club. He is a two-time winner of the Greater Utica Men's Open at Valley View Golf Club, first at age 37 in 1967, and then in the senior division at age 52 in 1982. Tom's instruction articles have been published in Golf Magazine. His love of and dedication to the game was demonstrated as he continued to provide instructions and golf lessons until very recently. For ten years he was the assistant golf coach at Hamilton College, remarkably at the age of 91 he could still give golfing lessons.
Last, but not least, he qualified for the 1987 Senior Olympics in speed skating at both the 400-meter and 1500-meter races. He earned a silver medal at 1,500 meters and was the only American to make the finals against an international field in Lake Placid.
Surviving are his devoted companion of many years, Beth "Polly" Zimpel, a son Thomas F. Hovey III and his wife Monica of SanDiego, CA, a daughter, Holly A. Hovey of Marcy, one sister, Charlotte A Guarini and her husband Bernard J. of Shrewsbury, MA, two nieces, Carol Williams, Kerry Hovey two nephews, Joseph and Thomas Guarini and Polly's grandchildren, Kestrel "Kess" Zimpel, Isabelle Fontaine and Silas Dale.  Besides his parents and wife Lillian, he was preceded in death by a brother Richard J. Hovey.

To all who knew him, he had a gift of making you feel at ease whenever you were with him and he would say, he did everything he wanted to do in this life.  He will never be forgotten and loved forever.

Due to the Corona Virus a funeral mass will be held for the public once the pandemic has passed.  Expressions of sympathy may be made with memorial donations to the Saint Joseph the Worker RC Church, PO Box 791, Richfield Springs, NY 13439 or the Richfield Springs emergency Squad PO Box 1456 Richfield Springs, NY 13439.

Funeral arrangements are with J. Seaton McGrath Funeral Home, Richfield Springs, NY.