Thomas Gilson

Thomas Alan Gilson (Tom), after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer, entered into his heavenly home the morning of November 9, 2024. He resided in Centerville, OH. Tom had recently celebrated his 68th birthday in early October.

He is survived by his wife of 37 years, Sara Gilson, son Jonathan (Emily) of Miamisburg, daughter Lisa Gosling (Morgan) and their children Shepard and Evelyn (living in Germany) and his 4 siblings – Kris Babcock (Rod), Kathy Gilson, Barb Keinath (Jim), Bob Gilson (Helen), 3 nephews, and 3 nieces, as well as other extended family he was blessed to know.

Tom was predeceased by his parents Don and Evelyn Gilson.

The youngest of his family, he enjoyed playing with the kids in his neighborhood in Auburn, MI. He often shared stories with his kids of summers playing baseball and winters ice skating and playing pickup games of hockey. He enjoyed camping with his family and sailing. He was an expert canoeist and loved spending summers on the lake with Lisa, Jonathan, and Sara as the kids grew up. He loved the outdoors, especially hiking with Sara. He was an incredible baker who passed on the tradition of making a tea ring on most holidays, as well as a deep love for fresh, homemade bread. His family was full of Michigan State Spartan fans, and he passed that on to his children and grandchildren.

He loved his wife, children, and grandchildren dearly. His son and daughter fondly remember stories he would make up on family road trips to help the time pass by. He regularly spent time with his son Jonathan, who lived locally, bonding over technology, computers, and philosophy. His last adventure prior to his diagnosis was fulfilling a lifelong dream to visit Germany, which was made even better by the fact he was able to do so with his daughter, son in law, and grandchildren. Despite all the wonderful things Germany had to offer, his favorite activities during the visit were reading to the grandkids and playing with building toys with them.

Tom was a lifelong lover of music. He started playing trombone in 5th grade and later attended Michigan State University, where he was a Music Education Major with a performance specialty in trombone. He was very proud to have marched in their marching band, despite his mustache freezing to his instrument on more than one occasion. After college, he continued his music education at the Dick Grove School of Music where he became an excellent sound technician. He received his Masters from the University of Central Florida in Industrial and Organizational Psychology which equipped him to help a variety of Christian ministries.

Tom had the priviledge of serving with several Christian nonprofits including Campus Crusade for Christ for 34 years, Breakpoint Ministry, Ratio Christi apologetics ministry, and most recently was a senior editor of The Stream where he wrote and published over 1000 articles. He authored 6 books and co-founded the Apologetics Fellowship in the Cincinnati and Dayton area. His writing career started at his award winning blog ThinkingChristian.net.

Most importantly, Tom loved the Lord Jesus Christ and was passionate about helping people learn to know God. He spent many years teaching apologetics to help others understand the reasons to believe the truth of God's word. He is now experiencing first hand God’s glory after all that he has stood for and shared through his speaking engagements, blogs and writings.

Visitation is from 6:00-8:00 pm, Thursday, Nov. 21 at South Dayton Presbyterian Church (5820 Bigger Road, Kettering, OH).

His memorial service will be held, Friday, November 22, starting at 11am, also at South Dayton Presbyterian Church.

Donations in lieu of flowers may be sent to Dayton Apologetics via https://www.daytonapologetics.com/donate. Dayton Apologetics is a daughter group of The Apologetics Fellowship, which he co-founded, and to be used in strong cooperation with them. primarily though not exclusively to provide seed money for one of Dad’s great dreams: Apologetics training that focuses less on knowing the arguments for Christ, and focuses more on studying and learning to minister in the body of Christ with that information, starting with small mini-conferences among people who care about that question like he did.