Mobile Attorney, George A. Tonsmeire Jr., dies
at 56
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Friends gathered Monday to mourn the
passing of long time Mobile attorney George Augustus
Tonsmeire Jr.
Tonsmeire, 56, a lifelong resident of Mobile, died Friday
at a hospital after suffering a heart attack. He had
suffered coronary problems for the past 10 years, according
to his brother, William G. Tonsmeire of Mobile.
Tonsmeire spent more than 30 years practicing general law
in Mobile with a specialty in real estate. Since the 1990s,
he was also a broker for his company, Coastal Realty.
During the early 1970s he served as an assistant
prosecutor in Mobile County.
"He was a very supportive and generous and open person,"
his brother said. "He had many friends."
Stova McFadden had worked with Tonsmeire's father, the
late George A. Tonsmeire Sr., at Tonsmeire, Hodnette and
McFadden, which later became Tonsmeire and McFadden. He
remembered the younger Tonsmeire as a great man.
"He worked for us a short time when he first got out of
law school," said McFadden of the firm now known as McFadden
Lyon and Rouse. "He's been out on his own for a long time.
He was a lovable type of fellow. He was a great man and
always had a pleasant attitude."
Rene Stiegler of Mobile, a friend since childhood, said
he could tell stories about Tonsmeire all day and still only
scratch the surface of what he was like. He said that among
the many things he'll miss is his friend's sense humor. He
said he'll also miss him on the amateur radio nets, known as
HAM radio.
"We got into HAM radio when we were kids in the 1960s" as
a hobby, Stiegler said.
Tonsmeire later became involved with the Air Force
Military Affiliate Radio System, the Maritime Mobile Service
Net, and at the time of his passing, was involved with the
Navy Marine Corps MARS. These groups of HAM radio operators
help get messages from people deployed overseas or aboard
ships to get messages or telephone patches to loved ones.
They can also get messages back and forth between ships or
from islands or from operators relaying information from
areas during natural disasters such as hurricanes.
Tonsmeire helped troops in Vietnam get messages or
telephone patches through, Stiegler recalled.
William Tonsmeire said his brother's enthusiasm for being
a HAM radio operator grew out of a lifelong interest in
electronics.
A graduate of McGill Institute, Tonsmeire attended
Louisiana State University and graduated from the University
of Alabama School of Law.
He was a parishioner of St. Mary Catholic Church.
In addition to his brother, Tonsmeire's survivors include
his wife of 19 years, Karen A. Tonsmeire of Mobile; and
three daughters, Rachael Tonsmeire Starnes of Columbia,
S.C., Tegan Ann Tonsmeire and Tracey Margaret Tonsmeire,
both of Mobile.
Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Mary
Catholic Church on Monday. Burial was in Old Spring Hill
Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to St. Mary Catholic Church.
Published in the Mobile Register on 2/20/2005
By KIM LANIER
Staff Reporter
|
