Geen Thazhampallath Offers a Tribute To Tom Serra

Former mayor and Common Council majority leader Tom Serra died this week after a battle with pancreatic cancer.  This tribute is authored by Geen Thazhampallath, who interned with Serra and is now the city's Parking Director.

Thomas J. Serra is the G. O. A.T. Greatest Citizen. Greatest Public Servant. Greatest Middletonian of All Time. No one is even close.

Is the G.O.A.T. Brady or Montana? Is it Lombardi or Belichick? Jordan or Lebron? Is it FDR, or Lincoln? The debates are endless and the answers usually tinged by one’s own time of life.

Here in Middletown, there are certainly formidable names to consider for our G.O. A. T. nominations. Past and Present. Titans of business, icons of education, sports, arts, and pols that have served at every level. Garafalo, McHugh, Masselli, Alexander, Cacciola, Gallitto, Cotton, Thompson, Baldwin, Snow, Bysiewicz. All worthy of mention. None worthy of the top spot. That spot belongs solely to the life and now memory of Tom Serra.

Serra was a god-like figure in my life from about age 10 when I first saw him throw a 30-yard perfect spiral, in a dress suit, to my buddy on Roberta Drive, while he was out campaigning for Council. Over the next 35 years he moved from god-like figure to father figure as our lives crisscrossed each other. Five years ago, I lost my dad. Tom filled the void as we often talked about life and true public service.

You probably are thinking that filling a void in one life doesn’t qualify anyone to be the G.O.A.T. You may be right in that assessment except for the fact that Tom played the role of mentor, friend, cheerleader, fixer, and family patriarch in hundreds, if not thousands, of local lives.

• He served as principal of Vinal High School for two decades touching the lives and careers of young people that now reach into every facet of service, manufacturing, carpentry, and technical know- how throughout Middletown and Middlesex County.
• He helped shape the very Middletown skyline that we see today. He was there when the State Court, Kidcity, the Middlesex Tower, Aetna complex, Fed-Ex and other major projects took height and flight.
  
• Tom wasn’t just a former Mayor, current Councilman or Majority Leader, he was a civic giant unlike any other. His public service was eclipsed only by his fervent love of family, his support or leadership of veterans, public schools, public sports and recreation, the Sports Hall of Fame, St. Sebastian’s parish, and local labor organizations. Few, if any, have showed up at every civic club event, dinner or fundraiser and served the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce like Tom did. In the last few years he often mentioned to me that his greatest love was organizing the Chamber’s career fair for young people. Once a teacher, always a teacher.
• He was a high school sports legend in his own right and still physically looked the part in his 70s. We should also remember that the sports legend of yesterday was called upon in 2006 to save his old school one last time. If it weren’t for Tom, the new MHS would still be a giant hole in the ground. Trust me. I was the one in the back ground calculating what goal line we needed Tom to cross, for all of us, one more time. A million dollars here, another four million there.
• Here’s the ultimate irony. He did all this in a very public eye that spanned over 50 years of his life often getting blamed for things he had nothing to do with. Yet, not one bit of it makes him the G.O.A.T. He and anyone else, in that rare high air, are not there based on what we see, but it’s based on all that stuff we don’t see. It’s based on all the extra work, sacrifice, personal advice, and private calls for help answered, that makes them great. That’s the stuff of legends. That’s the stuff that will always make Tom Serra Middletown’s G.O.A.T. End of debate.