Some of our most active civic and business leaders live to such an age that many of their beneficial activities may be unknown to some in our younger generations.
That was true of Thomas A. Erwin Jr., who died Saturday at the age of 97, after many years of constructive church, business and civic activity in Chattanooga.
Erwin had served at the popular Lookout Mountain tourist attraction Ruby Falls for many years before his retirement.
He was a graduate of Central High School, the University of Chattanooga and the Chattanooga College of Law.
During his extensive business career, he was president of the Chattanooga Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Advertising Club of Chattanooga, the Better Business Bureau of Chattanooga and the Brainerd Kiwanis Club, where he had a perfect attendance record of 50 years and had been a lieutenant governor of Division 3, Kentucky-Tennessee District.
Erwin was a Christian gentleman who was active at Brainerd Baptist Church. He is survived by his devoted wife, Dixie, with whom he shared a wedded life of 71 years.
Erwin was a fine example of Chattanooga good citizenship and service.