Orville Thomas "Tom" Neal passed away on October 25th, 2024, in Boulder City, NV at the age of 90. Tom is survived by his loving wife of 52 years, Jacqueline Sue (Moyer) Neal, their three children, Amy Lynn Neal of Orange, CA, Thomas Fredrick Neal of Reno, NV, and Robert Riley Neal of Sebastian, FL, two grandchildren, Riley Thomas Neal of Phoenix, AZ and Kathryn Taylor (Neal) Walsh, of Shingle Springs, CA, and three great-grandchildren, Nola Riley Walsh, Heidi Jacqueline Walsh, and Maggie Walsh all of Shingle Springs, CA. He is preceded in death by his father, Orville Thomas Neal, Sr, his mother, Helen Allyn Neal, and his younger brother, Robert Allen Neal of Upper Arlington, Ohio.

Tom was born on June 24th, 1934, in Columbus, Ohio. He attended High School in Upper Arlington and graduated in 1952. He was a three-year varsity baseballer at UAHS and was inducted into the UAHS Baseball Hall of Fame in January of 2022. He attended The Ohio State University from 1952 to 1956 where he also lettered in baseball there all 4 years and graduated with a B.S. degree in Business Administration. After college, he married Rebecca Lee Croxton in 1956 of Upper Arlington, OH and had three children over the next five years. After moving to Cleveland in 1957, he was asked to try out for the Cleveland Indians baseball team, but did not pursue baseball further due to his young family and new position waiting for him there. Sadly, the two parted ways and divorced in 1970.

In 1957 he joined General Electric in their lamp division as a lighting instructor and large lamp salesman at Nela Park - "The University of Light" in Cleveland. After leaving GE in 1962, he signed on with Omaha, Nebraska-based Lozier Store Fixtures where he held the position of National Account Executive and was instrumental in propelling that company to the top of their industry in just a few short years, where they remain to this day.

In 1963, Tom was asked by founder Bill Boehm, to teach his children's chorus, Cleveland's Singing Angels, a 200-strong children's chorus ranging from 8 to 18 years old, four-part a Capella barbershop harmony. He worked with them tirelessly over the years and the barbershop portion of their shows was always an audience favorite.

In 1971, his quartet, The Village Idiots, travelled to Southeast Asia to entertain the badly injured U.S. soldiers in a whirlwind hospital tour during the height of the Vietnam War with the Bob Hope USO Tour Shows.

That same year, he met his future second wife, Jackie, while on a flight to Florida, where she was a stewardess on-board. They were married in March of 1972 and celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary earlier this year.

In 1975, he packed up and moved his family to sunny Southern California - There, he founded Watkins Manufacturing, makers of world-renowned HotSpring Spas, in 1977 which headquartered in Vista, CA. He is regarded as the "father of the portable spa industry" by many and is well-known for bringing portable hot tubs to the public. The company he founded is the oldest and largest manufacturer in that industry today to this day.

In 1983, Tom founded the Barbershop Pioneers (today's BQPA) and over the next 30+ years, he brought together many of the past International Champions and other greats of SPEBSQSA's "golden era." Because barbershop quartet singing was a lifelong passion of Tom's, since forming his first quartet in high school in 1950, he naturally taught his kids to sing as well. He sang on his 90th birthday on Catalina Island, CA with his daughter and two sons, and for hours with complete strangers he met during the celebration as well, bringing harmony, laughter, and joy to all who sang and heard him sing that day.

He taught his family to work hard, not be so serious, laugh, inquire, and to live life to the fullest. He lived a life that could fill a book and everyone that knows his story wishes he had written it. There will never be another O.T. Neal. Thankfully, legends never die, and he will be long remembered by his loving friends and family.