Thomas Bradley “Tommy” Martin has been a Centerville farmer “ever since I could walk and touch the pedals on the tractor,” he wrote on his application for Eagle Scout, which he earned at age 17 in 2008.

He died on April 22, 2025 at his home in the Shipp’s Bend Community, close by the homes of the men who inspired his love of the land: the late Wash Shouse Jr., who provided his first tractor experiences; the late Emmett Thompson Jr., his grandfather, who encouraged him; and Tim Johnston, who operates the Thompson farm to this day.

This Centerville man spent the last 10 years as a farm hand for John and Ben West’s cattle operation in Gray’s Bend — cutting and storing hay, giving vaccinations and making sure they remain healthy and protected. It was a six-day-a-week commitment that often ran past sundown.

In the last year, he started his own business, Martin Excavating, which was building through his quality work.

Friends knew that Tommy enjoyed poking fun, eating local, keeping cats and a dog or two — Rip, a Jack Russell terrier, was his constant companion — plus bowling and action movies, especially the epic Band of Brothers.

He had a national farming experience, traveling in 2016 with a harvest crew from Texas to Saskatchewan, following the hayfields as they matured during a season that began in April and ended in November. He loved it enough to do it a second year.

That helped inspire a travel bug, instigating trips to monument-laden Washington, D.C., as well as the rocky coast of Maine, in addition to New York City. International trips to see his harvesting buddies, who live in Europe and Australia, were on his list.

The son of Brad and Alice Martin of Centerville, Tommy’s pre-teen years were spent among the horses of Mary Beth Pruett, whose instruction empowered him to succeed in events of the Pleasure Walking Horse Association of Tennessee in several classes. In 2002, he won recognition on the National Walking Horse Association’s Register of Merit in the E-Z Rider Western Youth program.

Tommy graduated from Hickman County High School in 2009 — earning Welding and Agriculture department awards — and then tried UT Martin for a year, until Math knocked him out. TCAT-Dickson has a diesel mechanic and repair program that was a match for his mechanical interest and ability; he graduated from it and then was hired Huggins Diesel, in Pinewood, gaining confidence through experience.

Thomas Bradley Martin earned the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout in 2008, one of four members of Boy Scout Troop 772 recognized on the same day for achieving the distinction. They were part of a group that camped their way through the ranks together since their Cub Scout days.

“Farmers are like Scouts,” he wrote in that Eagle Scout essay, “they live off the land, they use anything possible to help them get through and they enjoy being in nature all the time.”

He leaves his beloved niece, Monroe Bratton Gordon, age 5; his sister and her husband, Annie and Gavin Gordon, and several uncles, aunts and cousins.

His family offers their thanks to the care of Ryan McDonald, Bill McDonald and McDonald Funeral Home; to the friends who have visited to talk about Tommy and fill his parents’ kitchen with home-cooked food, and to all who have offered support, especially the aunts and uncles who are traveling here from East and West coasts to celebrate this young man.

His ashes will be buried on Saturday, May 3, 2025 at Oakmont Cemetery, Shipp’s Be, TN, close by Wash and Gertrude Shouse, who helped raise Tommy and Annie and claimed them as family. At McDonald Funeral Home – Hickman County, visitation begins at 10 a.m. and will end with the Memorial Service, at 2:00 PM with burial following.