Profile: Tom Womble
Tom has been a CCC member for over 14 years and has never held an official board position (yet) but he has held the official position of WOR Coordinator and became well known as MR WOR for his contributions in that role. He has also contributed greatly to many things within our club and sport.
Tom currently lives in Bryson City with his wife Major Cynthia Womble. Their son Robert is a freshman at High Point University.
There are many places where you might have first met Tom Womble. If you were boating in 1986 around Raleigh, you might have first laid eyes on him on the Haw paddling a Perception mirage with the NC State Outdoors program. His first boat was a Perception Spirit.
If you were in the Navy, you might have noticed him parking ships as a Surface Warfare Officer. He retired as a Commander.
Later in life, you might have found him in Bryson City. Did you attend a Swain County athletic event and buy some hot chocolate from him as the head of Concessions.
As the head of Swain Clean, you may have noticed a buzzed head, reflector vest, grabber, and can-do attitude as his group beautifies Swain County roads and rivers.
You might also have seen him in the famous yellow Mamba sitting on the glassy wave below the bridge on the Nantahala River.
If you did not meet him in those places you probably met him standing on a picnic table the week of July 4th. Tom Womble or Mr. WOR is the man with the plan. His notebook in hand, a smile on his face, CCC t-shirt wearing style, and quick wit have led the meetings for the past 4 years. I am so very thankful. You should be so very thankful.
Q&A courtesy of Joe Berry;
What is your perfect day?
To see a bald eagle surfing.
What is your favorite river?
Elwha in Washington States Olympic Peninsula. You can start your day paddling whitewater and end up surfing saltwater.
What do we need to know about you?
Tom would not answer this question but his brother-in-law did. Tom is a giver of time.
What keeps you loading your boat and surfing after so many years?
Enjoying the peace and relaxing on a glassy wave. It’s the Zen thing.
What advice do you have for new boaters?
Enjoy the journey. Find a mentor. Listen. Ask what you did right and what you did wrong. Take advantage of clinics and ACA certifications.
What do folks need to do to get ready for WOR 2022?
Do your homework. Plan for what you want to accomplish. Realize you might not get everything. More important than anything it is the relationships you make at WOR. These will last a lifetime. I still paddle with these folks. If you are bringing family members that do not paddle do your research. There are tons of stuff that they can do, hiking, biking, but maybe not snow skiing. Plan ahead.
As stated above Tom has become known as Mr. WOR and for good reasons. WOR has 3 main community-focused events which were all originated by Tom Womble;
- Tom tied us into Swain Clean to clean the “Tuckassegee floating islands of Trash” right outside Bryson City.
- Tom partnered the CCC with Wayne Dickert and Restoration House with Tom’s Green Tent food pantry collection. Every year at WOR the tent is set up behind the meeting shelter. It is filled with food donations by the kind CCC WOR participants.
- The Senior Care packages were dreamed up by the CCC’sTom Womble and Trish Hipgrave who directs the Swain County Health Department. Each year the CCC gets a list of wants and needs which we fulfill and call our Senior Care packages.
The CCC has a rich history of giving back to the communities in which we play/gather. Thank you, TW for helping us continue this tradition by establishing these 3.
You can learn more about Tom by reading his story “Why I Paddle”