Sadly, Tom Pimentel (retired 2010), bon vivant and longtime Yosemite area resident was killed in a car accident on Friday evening, January 17, 2014. His grandsons, Jensen and Gus Fouch, were in the car with him. They sustained minor injuries and are home and doing well.
Tom first came to Yosemite in 1968, shortly after graduating high school in Los Angeles. He held a variety of jobs with the Yosemite Park & Curry Company, including busser at the Four Seasons restaurant and life guard at the Yosemite Lodge pool.
He began his federal career in 1971 as a seasonal firefighter on the Sierra National Forest. Tom began working for the National Park Service in Yosemite in 1974 as a seasonal sawyer/woodworker in Resources Management. He went on to work as a seasonal law enforcement ranger in the Grand Canyon and Yosemite before getting his first permanent job in Yosemite as an Admin Clerk in the Protection Division. He went on to serve as the Park’s fire dispatcher in 1986 and switched to the Administration Division in 1991, working in Human Resources and, ultimately, the Budget Office.
Tom is survived by his step children, Aaron Savage and Hannah Fouch, grandchildren Jensen, Gus and Poppy Fouch, sister Rona Dorn and nieces Amy, Sara, Kelly and Kristen.
Per Tom’s wishes, there will be a party/celebration — later in the spring. Details will be posted on the Remembering Tom Pimentel Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/RememberingTomPimentel?ref=hl. Everyone who would like to do so is encouraged to visit this page and post stories/photos of the inimitable Tom Pimentel.
