[RP TownTalk] Thomas H. Schreffler, Resident of Natoli Apartments, Dies

[Jeffrey Yorke]

Thomas H. Schreffler, Resident of Natoli Apartments, Dies

Longtime Riverdale Park resident Thomas H. Schreffler, died Nov. 20 at
Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park after a year-long battle
with cancer of the bladder. He was 58.

In 1990, he met Linda L. Holliday of New Carrollton. They courted a
dozen years and were married in 2002. They lived in the Natoli Place
Apartments in Riverdale Park for the past 11½ years. An avid
motorcyclist, Mr. Schreffler was also a friend to animals and could
often be seen near Town Center walking his beagle, Buddy.
“Tom was a really wonderful dog owner,” says Angela Baber, a Natoli
Place neighbor and fellow dog owner. “He was always friendly and
always had something to say. He was his own kind of guy. A country boy
in the city.”

Born near Pottsville, PA in December 1950, Mr. Schreffler operated a
roofing business as a young man. But he had wanderlust and took up a
nomadic lifestyle, taking a series of odd jobs including restaurant
and hotel staff positions in a variety of places to pay for his
travels across the United States. He had a special knack for
recounting tales of his adventurers and the people he met along the
way. He was especially generous in suggesting interesting travel
destinations and offbeat highway routes to make trips more exciting.
He also relished getting postcards from spots he had recommended and
hearing new stories about the places his friends had seen.
In 1989, he and Linda Holliday moved to Texas to start a new life.
They settled in Tomball, a rural area near Houston and the Gulf
region. But life was tough and opportunities slim. Within two years
Schreffler, with the help of Ms. Holliday’s family, sent her back to
the Riverdale area and he followed her back by hitchhiking back to
Washington.

“It was always an adventure with Tom,” Ms. Holliday said Saturday
after a memorial service for her husband. “We did a lot of stuff
together, him and I.”
Mr. Schreffler worked as a driver for Quality Auto Parts in Beltsville
for nearly five years and then for Olympic Auto Parts in College Park.
More recently, he worked for District Photo Inc. in Beltsville.

In addition to Ms. Holliday, survivors include a sister in the
Riverdale Park area, a brother in Baltimore, and four children and
several stepchildren.


					

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Jeffrey Yorke
Yorke Property Management, Inc.
Yorke Partners
Jeffrey at YorkeRents.com
301-502-1243