Published: January 13, 2009 09:25 pm      

Funeral service for Tom Colley set for today

BLUEFIELD — Gov. Joe Manchin will be among the mourners in attendance today at the funeral for Bluefield Daily Telegraph Executive Editor Thomas A. “Tom” Colley

Funeral services will be conducted at 11 a.m. today at the First Presbyterian Church, 208 Tazewell Avenue, Bluefield, with the Rev. Dr. W.D. Hasty officiating. Burial will follow at Clinch Valley Memorial Cemetery in Richlands, Va.

Colley, executive editor of the Daily Telegraph since 1985, died early Saturday morning at Roanoke Memorial Hospital in Roanoke, Va., following a brief illness.

Manchin will attend and speak at Colley’s funeral, according to the governor’s office.

Colley’s family also has agreed to the establishment of the “Tom Colley Memorial Fund for CIU Youth Outreach Programs.”

Colley was serving as chairman of the Center for International Understanding’s board of directors at the time of his death, and worked to establish the CIU Youth Outreach Programs.

“We don’t want to ever forget that it was Tom who conceived this idea,” Sudhakar R. Jamkhandi, president of the Center for International Understanding, said. “I know there were so many other causes he supported, but this was a personal thing he was involved in. So the memorial fund will help to set into motion those activities that Tom had conceived in order to really get our youngsters involved. He had my belief that our folks here could reach for the stars. That they could be ambassadors for the federal government, and major international CEOs if they choose to. This is one way he thought he could prepare them.”

Jamkhandi said Colley was hoping to have the next meeting of the CIU group at his home.

“That is how much he thought of this group,” Jamkhandi said. “Tom wanted the meeting to be held at his home.”

Colley began his newspaper career with the Auburn Evening Star in Auburn, Ind., in the late 1960s. He later returned to work at the Sunset News-Observer in Bluefield and later the Tazewell Free Press in Richlands. Colley accepted a position as a copy editor with the Bluefield Daily Telegraph in 1969, and soon advanced to the position of managing editor.

Colley left Bluefield in 1979 for an editor’s position at the News & Courier in Charleston, S.C., where he stayed until 1985 when he returned to the Bluefield Daily Telegraph and accepted the position of executive editor.

Colley served as the executive editor of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph until his death Saturday.

As the long-time chairman of the Community Christmas Tree, Colley helped to ensure a joyous Christmas for thousands of needy children across the region for more than 24 years. For more than 20 years, he also helped bring weekly entertainment to downtown Bluefield as part of the Chicory Square Concert Series.

Colley also was a member of the original Southern Coalfields Delegation of America’s Promise, which helped lay the groundwork in 1996 for what would later become the region’s unique Top 100 Communities for Youth designation.

Colley was an active member of the Bluefield Rotary Club, and was a Paul Harris Fellow. Just last year, Colley was named a Distinguished West Virginian by Manchin — the highest honor a resident of West Virginia can receive.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com