Thomas William Mellinger

Thomas W. Mellinger, 89 of Washington, died Sunday, March 15, 2026, at Halcyon House in Washington. His funeral mass will be held Thursday, March 26, 2026, at 10:30 AM at St. James Catholic Church in Washington. The service will be available via Livestream at the Beatty Peterseim Facebook and YouTube pages. Following the mass, he will be cremated and private family burial will be held Friday, March 27 at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Burlington. Visitation will be held Wednesday, March 25, 2026, from 4 – 7 PM at St. James Catholic Church, where a Rosary will be recited at 3:30. Memorial donations can be directed to the Knights of Columbus Scholarship Fund or St. James Catholic Church.

Thomas William Mellinger was born August 7, 1936, in Des Moines County, Iowa, the son of Frank H. and Gladys E. (Bell) Mellinger. He graduated from Burlington High School and completed his Tool and Die Certification while working at Campbell Chain Company in West Burlington. While working there he owned and operated Mellinger Furnace Cleaning. After relocating to Washington Tom worked at the McCleery-Cumming Company for 30 years and was also the janitor for St. James School during that time. He was united in marriage to Loretta Kibling at St. Johns Catholic Church in Burlington on June 9, 1956. Tom was a council member of the St. James Knights of Columbus in Washington. He also served on the board of the George Washington Credit Union, was a council member and leader in the Boy Scouts, was a 4H leader, track coach and little league coach. Tom enjoyed woodworking, camping, fishing, going to stock car races, playing pool, sleeping in the barn with the pigs, and spending time with his family, especially his grandchildren. He enjoyed telling stories of growing up on his Uncle Charlie’s farm.

Survivors include his wife, Loretta; seven children: Roseanne Mellinger (Max Morrow) of Louisiana, Carol Karian (David) of California, Mark Mellinger (Cheryl) of Maryland, Gary Mellinger (Janine), Scott Mellinger (Cindy), Angela Zook (Rusty), and Melissa Cardwell (Kevin) all of Iowa; 17 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren; sister Joyce Morris of Oklahoma; sister-in-law Lynda Mellinger of Iowa, and many nieces and nephews.

Preceding Tom in death were his parents, his son Timothy, his sister Violet Boecker, and brother Kenneth Mellinger.