Thomas Windust

Tom Windust passed away on April 24, 2025, at his home in Des Moines, Iowa, he was 76 years old.

A gathering/visitation will be held on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, from 2:00-4:00 pm at Simplify Cremations and Funerals (4821 SW 9th Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50315) to celebrate Tom's life.

Tom was born on September 27, 1948, in Lynwood, California, to Melvin Windust and Jeanne White. He attended Kennedy High School before moving to Iowa where he graduated from Adair Casey High School in 1967. After high school graduation, Tom studied retail business management and marketing at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) and graduated in 1970.

Tom married first wife, Beverly Norton, on July 3, 1980 in Des Moines, Iowa. They were married for 22 years before divorce. He married second wife, Stephanie Grice, on April 14, 2022 in Des Moines, Iowa. They were married for 21 years before divorce.

Tom worked at Big A Auto Parts before becoming a parts manager at Rexco Equipment. During the years at both of these jobs he met and acquired many lifelong friends from both co-workers and customers. On weekends Tom enjoyed having his children tag along with him at work and teaching them about what he did and the equipment he sold parts for.

Tom was an active member in the churches he attended holding positions including deacon, usher, greeter, and online welcomer during 2020 and 2021.

He was also an active member of a local bowling league for many years. When he was no longer able to continue bowling himself he watched many national bowling tournaments from home. Along with bowling, Tom enjoyed watching golf. Whenever it aired, you could find him watching the Masters or other golf tournaments. However, Tom's favorite sport was baseball. He enjoyed watching the Iowa and Chicago Cubs, but he was a die hard Dodgers fan. He collected Dodgers memorabilia and enjoyed talking about Dodgers players his dad went to school with. He would tell stories about the Dodgers games he attended and the times he got to sit in the dugout with the Dodgers players while living in California.

Tom loved cars, especially classic cars and dragsters. He enjoyed working on cars, racing a drag car with family, and collecting diecast cars. His favorite car was his 1971 Dodge Challenger in Plum Crazy. He enjoyed attending the Goodguys car show each year at the state fairgrounds. He could tell you pretty much anything about almost every car he saw, especially if they were older cars.

Tom was also a music and movie buff. He collected vinyl records, cassette tapes, CD's, and movies. If it was a classic rock song he could tell you the artist, song title, album, when it was released, if it was a remake, and if it was played at Woodstock or not. His favorite artist was The Rolling Stones. He liked to tell stories about the time he sat stage side on a speaker at a Beach Boys concert before they were the Beach Boys. He liked to talk about movies as well, especially Disney or comedy movies. He liked to talk about the times he got to meet Walt Disney and shake his hand. He was a hard core Trekkie too and could tell you tons of facts about any Star Trek episode or movie. He also collected label pens, keys, and bumper stickers.

Tom had a CB radio and enjoyed communicating with truckers and other people with CB radios. His handle was Tom Thumb and had a card with his call number and name as well as a wooden sculpture of his call number. He was a talker and loved to talk to anyone and everyone. He enjoyed sharing stories and doing anything he could to make others smile. He was stubborn and did not like asking for help or having others do things for him, but always tried to step up and help others when he could.

Tom enjoyed talking to and spending time with his family. He enjoyed going on walks with his kids and grandkids at Grays Lake. He also enjoyed watching and supporting his children and grandchildren's academic, sporting, and scouting events and activities. His favorite ice cream was chunky monkey and his favorite restaurant was Barattia's in Des Moines.

Tom is survived by his 3 children: Jessica Frye, Erica (Des) Rivera-Windust, Anthony Windust; 2 step-children: Darrel Grice, Asley Grice; 12 grandchildren: Clay Frye, Anthony Frye, Noel Frye, Brandon Frye, David Rivera, Kylee Frye, Emily Grice, Sarah Grice, Godric Rivera-Windust, Gideon Rivera-Windust, Allena Rivera-Windust, Alisa Rivera-Windust; 1 great grandchild that is due in December 2025; 6 siblings: William Helsley, Nickie Helsley, Steve Windust, Jeffery Windust, James Windust, Ben Windust; mother Jeanne Helsley; step-mother Virgina Windust; and numerous aunt, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, and in-laws. Tom is preceded in death by his father Melvin Windust; his step-father Gene Helsley; his brother Richard Helsley; and his sister Charlotte Windust.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations in memory of Tom to Shriners Children's Hospital.