18 Jun Thomas “Tom” Tysver

Thomas “Tom” Tysver, 54, of Bismarck, passed away on June 14, 2024, peacefully at his home after a short battle with metastatic melanoma.

A memorial service will be held at 10:00 AM on Friday, June 21, 2024, at Bismarck Funeral Home.  Family will be receiving guests one hour prior to the service.

Tom, or Tommy as his family lovingly called him, was born July 14, 1969, in Dunn Center, ND.He was the youngest of 5 siblings, who were blessed to have Joe and Annie Tysver as their parents.  Tom grew up in Scranton, ND, graduating from Scranton High School in 1987. In his youth, he was involved in band and choir, and his love of music was strong at a young age. He recently mentioned during a conversation about his youth that Mr. Mark Perkins, a teacher in Scranton, was key in his understanding the structure of music, and making music a constant in his life from then on.

Tom was not only a music fan, but a fan of vehicles and building/fixing things, as well. He gained immense amounts of knowledge from his brothers, growing up, and using that knowledge and the ability to “figure it out” eventually, he became quite the handy guy. He could fix or build anything his mind could dream up, because if there was a will, there was always a way.  He attended NDSCS for 2 years after graduation, obtaining a degree in electronics. After graduating from college, he was fortunate enough to secure a job at Eggers Audio Video in Bismarck. What many people would call “work”, he thought of as “fun”, because it allowed him to be surrounded by his loves: music and cars. Tom worked at Eggers until it closed in 2016, making lifelong friends and meeting a coworker named Karla Rae Kalmbach, of Kenmare. Karla Rae would become his wife in 1994, however, cancer would end their blessed marriage when she passed away in 2006. He worked at Premier Audio Video from 2016 until his death.

In 2008, Tom decided he was ready to look for a relationship again, and it just so happened that Karla Sue Nelson, of Bismarck, had decided the same thing.  Tom and Karla Sue had their first date on September 28, 2008, were engaged on April 1, 2009, and were happily married on May 3, 2009. Tom was blessed to gain, as sons, the 3 teenage boys (18, 16, and 16) that Karla Sue brought to the marriage, later saying that he knew for certain that he wanted to be a father the moment he decided to ask Karla Sue to marry him. Ryan, Marcus Jr., and Mason immediately adored Tom and saw how happy he made their mom, of course giving their blessing when Karla Sue told them about the engagement. Tom felt doubly blessed when he legally adopted Ryan in 2011, as having a son to carry on his last name was a dream come true for him, although from the first day of meeting the boys to his last day in this world, he thought of all of them as his sons.

During their 15 years of marriage, Tom and Karla Sue had wonderful times and adventures, and weathered the hard times together because together they were strongest. Tom was also an absolute rock for anyone who needed support in his life. Some of Tom’s happiest times were spent visiting family, traveling, snowmobiling, and spending any time he could in his yard or his garage. In 2013, he was beyond proud to be the father of the groom, when Ryan was married to Chelsay Horner, and he could not have been happier to meet his granddaughter, Chaylee Laine Tysver in 2018. One of his last wishes was to meet his grandson, Renyn Thomas Tysver, and that was a wish that came true as Renyn was born on June 6.  He was the best papa that he could be, and he did an amazing job at it. Tom was also very happy to be Uncle Tom to his niece, Remi Jahner. He had a very special place in his big heart for “his Remi”, and also for her mom, Ashley “our Ashley” Jahner, and made no secret about the fact that they were his family.

Grateful to have shared his life are his wife, Karla Sue (Nelson) Tysver; his sons, Ryan Lee (Chelsay) Tysver, Mandan; Marcus Joseph Jahner Jr., Salt Lake City; Mason William Jahner, Fargo; and his rescue dogs, Ellie and Maggie. Also surviving Tom are his sister, Judy (Ron) Gangl, Solen; brother, Irvin (Kelly) Tysver, Billings; sisters-in-law, Cindy Nelson, Bismarck; Kristen Saari, Fargo; Tonya Tysver, Hulett; Marion Erickson, Scranton; brother-in-law, Ken Bitz; and numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

Greeting him in Heaven were his parents; his brothers, Albert and Harold; his first wife, Karla Rae, his sister-in-law, Debbie (Nelson) Bitz; his brother-in-law, Jason Saari; his mother-in-law, Kathy Braun, and fathers-in-law, William Braun and Lee Nelson. Also meeting him with all the joy that dogs can muster, were his 4-legged friends Sam and Bridget.

The family of Tom Tysver would like to thank all the doctors and nurses at Sanford Medical Center for their care and compassion.