Tommy Vannatta October 4, 1956~October 9, 2014 Thomas Jake (Tommy) Vannatta, age 58, of Valley Mills passed away Oct. 9, 2014, in a Waco hospital surrounded by his loved ones. Funeral service will be 10 A.M. Monday at the Valley Mills First Baptist Church. Interment will be at the Valley Mills Cemetery under the direction of Foss Funeral Home & Cremation Center. Visitation will be 2 - 4 P.M. Sunday at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to Garrett Trammell Scholarship Fund, c/o First National Bank Bosque County, PO Box 278, Valley Mills, Texas 76689. Tom was born in Mineral Wells, Texas October 4, 1956 the eldest son of Tom and Jeanette Vannatta. He moved to Valley Mills in the fifth grade and graduated from Valley Mills High School in 1975. He played football, basketball and baseball and made many lifelong friends during his school years. Tom married Cindy Behringer Vannatta in 1977 and had three sons together. Tom lived most of his life in the Valley Mills, Speegleville and Crawford area. He hunted and fished every field, creek, lake and woods he could find and shared his love of hunting and fishing with his sons. Tom worked with Barnett Contracting, GSI, Inc., Waco ISD, J & B Construction, Texas Tree and Landscape and also worked in private business over the years with Titan Packing and Quality Construction. He took great pride in a job well done and demonstrated this in the quality of the work he did with concrete and asphalt work to build roads and installing utilities for municipalities. He did this type of work all over Central Texas and into the Arlington, Grapevine and DFW areas. Tom made a difference in many young men's lives through volunteering his time with youth sports. Tom made many close friends when he was involved at Community Baptist Church and Hilltop Baptist Church. He saw good in others, he had a gift of discernment and had a special ministry to others who might not feel welcome or comfortable in church. He experienced his share of struggles and failure, he understood failure and even saw his accident and illness as part of God's plan to heal the broken areas of his life, he had a tender heart for others who struggled. This past year he became very aware of the loneliness and struggles a prolonged illness brings and had hoped to be able to minister to others in similar circumstances when he was able to return home. He would be honored if we could continue that ministry for him. He was preceded in death by his father Tom Vannatta and sister Pam Ficklin. Survivors include his mother: Jeanette Vannatta of Valley Mills; 3 sons: Tommy Wayne Vannatta and wife Mandy, Travis Lee Vannatta, Trey Jacob Vannatta; the mother of his 3 sons: Cindy Vannatta; brothers: Tim Vannatta and wife Lindy, Danny Vannatta and wife Penny; sister: Gail Harris and husband, Kenneth; grandson: Easton Blake Vannatta; several nieces and nephews.