FULLERTON – Tom C. Delaney, 78, of Fullerton, died Wednesday, August 3, 2022 at his home in Fullerton.
Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, August 8, 2022 at Fullerton Community Church in Fullerton with Pastor Joy Church officiating. Interment will follow at Fullerton Cemetery in Fullerton with military honors by Belgrade American Legion Post No. 99 and the Army of Nebraska Honor Guard.
Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, August 7 at the Fullerton Community Church. Palmer-Santin Funeral Home is at the service of the family.
Tom was born on August 10, 1943, to Frank C. and Elizabeth (Stellman) Delaney at Columbus Hospital in Columbus. He grew up on a farm northwest of Fullerton and attended Woodlawn District 27 Elementary School. He graduated from Fullerton High School in 1961. He enrolled at Kearney University in the fall of 1961 and graduated from Kearney State College in January 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. While in college, he also worked for the State of Nebraska in Lincoln for a year and spent two years in the United States Army with 17 months of service in South Vietnam. He also taught middle school at a rural school in Merrick County near Grand Island. After graduating from college, he moved to Walthill, where he lived for 21 years. He taught seven years at Walthill and three years at Winnebago and Macy’s Public Schools. He worked as an auditor for six years and served as an institutional director for Woodbury County in nearby Sioux City, Iowa, before taking a job as a professional business instructor for the University of New York. Mexico at their secondary campus in Gallup, NM. From there he moved to Eastern Arizona College in Safford, Arizona, where he served as Director of the Business Vocations Program at Ft. Grant State Prison. In 1997, he returned to the Midwest due to his mother’s health issues and worked as a counselor for disabled veterans in Sioux City, Iowa. He has worked with veterans from South Dakota, Iowa, and northeast Nebraska. When the budget was cut and the job ended, he spent a year at Keya Paha County High School in Springview, then joined Metropolitan Community College in Omaha and served as a vocational instructor in their program at Penitentiary. the state of Nebraska in Lincoln. He left there in 2002 to return to Fullerton and help care for his elderly mother who died on January 12, 2003. He owned and operated Delaney Rental, which had rental homes in Fullerton and was a partner in Delaney Bros Farms with his brother, Ron.
Tom liked to develop projects. While at Walthill, he was instrumental in founding the annual Walthill Memorial Rodeo in 1974 and served as its president for four years. When he returned from Arizona to Nebraska, he read an article in the Grand Island newspaper about investors in the small town of Doniphan establishing a new assisted living facility. He convinced a few people to work together and they built Valley View Assisted Living in Fullerton. He also enjoyed renovating houses to resell or rent out and he and his brother, Ron, collected several vintage cars and restored them for shows and tours.
In the years following Vietnam, he was involved with many Nebraska veterans groups, having served on the committee promoting the first Vietnam Veterans Reunion on Grand Island in 1975. Tom was awarded the Army Commendation Metal for Meritorious Service in the Republic of South Vietnam in 1969. and a plaque from his MAC-V unit also for Meritorious Service. He was a member of Belgrade American Legion Post #99 and a life member of the VFW in Scottsdale, Arizona.
He is survived by his brother, Ron (Karen) Delaney; niece, Megan (Mike) Anderson; nephew, Travis Delaney; grandnephews, Evan (Marah) Arellano and Adam Arellano; grand-niece, Pilar Arellano; great-great-grandnephews, Jameson and Tobias Arellano; great-great-niece, Annarae Arellano; and many cousins and friends.
He is preceded in death by his parents.
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