Thomas Rea Greene, Jr. passed into the arms of Jesus Christ on Monday, July 29, 2024 at age 86.  He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Shirley (Conner) Greene; his daughter Adrienne Greene; son Thomas Greene, III; son Nathan Greene (Kim Greene) and four grandchildren: Isabella, Connor, Jakob and Blake. 

A memorial service and celebration of his life will be held on Saturday, August 10th at 1:00 p.m. at Rockdale Community Church in West Harrison, located at 1195 Johnson Fork Road, West Harrison, IN 47060. Flowers are welcome (Tom loved nature) or memorial donations may be made to the Rockdale Community Church.

Tom was born into the Greene Line Steamer family on February 4th 1938.  The son of a Cincinnati steamboat captain and a West Virginia mountain girl, he began his career in art and illustration as a child. In the second grade, at Terrace Park Elementary School, Tom created a pencil drawing of a tree.  He received recognition for the illustration; being called to the principal’s office to receive the dollar prize.  From then on, he began to create art and seek to make it his life.  A graduate of Withrow High School in 1956, Tom attended Carnegie Mellon University where he studied stage design. He then attended the University of Cincinnati where he met his wife Shirley and married her in 1965. They settled in Hyde Park, Cincinnati and began their family that eventually included three children. Tom thrived as a commercial artist, using his domestic life as subjects for many illustrations.  He became the art director for Mabley & Carew and the H. & S. Pogue Company department stores, then served as an illustrator in many commercial art studios throughout Cincinnati.  The last 17 years of his corporate career were spent teaching illustration and design at the Art Institute of Cincinnati. Tom’s freelance work included partnerships with St. Anthony Messenger, Yankee Magazine, Focus on the Family, Standard Publishing, Campbell’s Soup and many others. In 1979, Tom bought 96 acres of forest, an 1803 house and four ancient out-buildings (one that became his glorious art studio) near the tiny town of Cedar Grovea where he moved the family. There, nestled in Franklin County, he thrived as the naturalist, artist and family-man he was; producing numerous paintings and art works, stone walls and hiking trails on his beautiful land. In 2016, he and Shirley down-sized their lives and moved to Bright. From there, Tom spent his final year at Ripley Crossing senior home in Milan.  Shirley now resides with her daughter Adrienne in the Rockdale Community Church parsonage.

Paid obituary