Thomas Earl Sodders

Date and Time of Service: Fri., Sept. 3, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. – Southposted 9/1/2010 at 2:44:34 PMThomas Earl Sodders, 62 of Struthers, Ohio, passed away early Tuesday morning on 8/31 after a long and courageous battle with Cancer.He was born June 1, 1948 in Parkersburg, WV, the son of Leona Pippin and the late Thomas Allman.He graduated from Parkersburg High School in 1966. He served in the U. S. Army for 4 years based in Germany during the Vietnam War era.In his younger years, he was very involved with the Special Olympics. He was a Ski Instructor. He was also a lifetime member of the Mid Ohio Valley Model Railroad Club. Because of his lifelong love of Model Railroads, he designed and fabricated many accessories for the different scale Model Railroad layouts. He started a website, Sodders Enterprises.com, and became a world-wide distributor of his accessories. Other than Model Railroads, his hobbies were golf, nature, history and skiing. He was Catholic by faith.He was a design Draftsman for Walker Parkersburg, spent many years as an Estimator and Purchasing Agent for Danser Sheet Metal and Specialty Piping Corp. He obtained his General Contractors license and started T. E. Sodders Unlimited General Contractors which he owned and operated for 10 years. Due to his illness, he closed his business in 2006 and moved to Struthers, Ohio to be close to his stepdaughter & son-in-law, the Cleveland Clinic, and the Veterans Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA.He is survived by his loving wife, Nancy Sodders; his stepdaughter, Kathy Goon Severn (John); his mother, Leona Pippin; a sister, Peggy Sue Pippin; two brothers, James Lee Pippen and Thomas R. Waldron; and his devoted dog Lady.In addition to his father, he was preceded in death by his grandmother, Nellie Propst.The family will receive family and friends on Thursday, Sept. 2 from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Lambert-Tatman Funeral Home,Pike Street, South Parkersburg. Funeral Services will be held on Friday, Sept. 3 at 11:00 a.m. with Father Yesu Golla officiating. Burial will follow at McCray Cemetery in Creston, WV.