Tom Blosser

Thomas Yoshiro Blosser (born Sudo Yoshiro November 3, 1951 in Muroran, Japan; died March 23, 2006 in Birmingham) was a musician.

Yoshiro was one of three siblings abandoned by his parents and left with his grandmother to raise. He was adopted in October 1958 by Eugene and Louella Gingerich Blosser, Mennonite missionaries working in Taiki, Japan. He was raised along with their children, Rachel and Phillip, who all spoke Japanese. They gave him the name Thomas and taught him some English before bringing him to the United States during their furlough the next year.

While in America, Tom was naturalized as a United State citizen in Hammond, Indiana. When the family returned to Japan, they lived in Sapporo and Thomas and Phillip attended the Hokkaido Internation School and boarded at a hostel for missionaries' children established by the Blossers. After middle school, the brothers attended the Christian Academy in Tokyo.

Tom attended Hesston College in Hesston, Kansas for two years, but left to play guitar in a wide range of bands around the country. He found more work as a bass player and landed in Nashville, Tennessee, where he was hired to back up teenaged banjo player Wendy Holcombe. The two soon fell for each other and married. They settled first in Florida, and then in Hickory, North Carolina, near Phillip's family. They later returned to Florida.

In 1987 Wendy died from a congenital heart condition and Tom slid into a depression. He broke contact with his family and eventually settled in Birmingham where he took odd jobs as a handyman. He died in 2006 of natural causes and was cremated. Some of his ashes were scattered over Wendy's grave at the Cedar Grove Cemetery near Maylene. Another portion was interred by his adoptive father at a family plot in Wellman, Iowa. A third portion was scattered in Japan near his birthplace.

References

• Blosser, Phillip (April 7, 2006) "Thomas Yoshiro Blosser". website