The Candidate - Thomas Wakely for Congress

He is a USAF Vietnam-era Veteran

He and his wife, Norma Leticia Gomez Rodriguez - a native of Mexico, own & operate Ann's Place: a private care hospice. 

Among the many individuals who have come to Ann’s Place was Lucy Coffey, who at 108 at the time of her death, was the oldest living female veteran in the United States. For the last 3 years of her life, Lucy lived with Tom and his wife. “She was a remarkable woman,” recalls Tom. “Every night she joined us at the dinner table for a couple glasses of wine and good conversation. We miss her very much. ”

Another hospice patient Tom remembers with great love was WWII veteran Clayton Rider, who lived with them for 2 years and who was 96 yrs. old when he died. "Clayton fought in North Africa against Gen. Rommel, participated in the allied invasion of Italy and fought his way across Europe to Paris," said Tom. "He was one of the funniest guy's I have ever known."

Over the years, dozens of military veterans having chosen Ann's Place as the place where they wanted to go live before they died. That in and by itself should tell you what type of man Tom is and the type of man you would want as your Congressman - caring, compassionate and understanding.

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Tom is a grandfather -

He graduated from Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio -

He worked with César Chávez on the grape boycott in Texas -

He published an underground newspaper - the San Antonio Gazette -

He was a Labor Union Organizer in Denver, Colo and a Union Business Agent in Milwaukee, Wisconsin -

He was a small business owner -

He attended the Chicago Theological Seminary -

He organized a Unitarian Universalist Church in Wisconsin and served as their first minister -

He was elected to the Lake Geneva, Wisconsin School Board -

He build Affordable Housing in Manor, Texas -

He rehabbed dozens of homes for low-income home owners in east Austin -

He attempted to organize A Community Development Bank in Austin -

He and his wife once owned & operated a Wine Bar/Jazz Club on the Pacific Coast of Mexico -

What Tom is not is a career politician like Lamar Smith !