Thomas David "Tommy" Breslin

Thomas “Tommy” Breslin, Leonardtown’s preeminent collector of old motorcycles, guitars, broken hearts and broken boats, died Monday June 5 after an illness that - despite its mystery, severity, and length - never dampened Tommy’s biting wit and his love of his family. Tommy was born June 15 1958, the fourth child of Fred and Anne Breslin, and it’s sometimes a wonder that they had more after him. His siblings would tell stories about his youthful antics, often punctuated by Tommy throwing in a correction or - more often - an embellishment. He attended Father Andrew White S.J. School, and St. Mary’s Ryken High School, where he was involved in Boy Scouts and played basketball. In high school Tommy started playing guitar, and music became his most consistent love, the one that loved him back the hardest, the one he hated to walk away from. Throughout his life he enjoyed joining his siblings on stage at local bars and restaurants, or singing with his nieces and nephews at family gatherings. Tommy had an assortment of amps in his basement, and on each amplifier the volume knob only went one direction - UP. If people in Calvert County couldn’t hear you from Tommy’s basement, you were doing it wrong. At family Christmas parties - regardless of the venue - Tommy would show up with an arsenal of Nerf guns for the kids, many of whom never aged out of the tradition. If the weather wasn’t too bitterly cold, he’d disappear outside to wash all the guests’ cars, listening to music and enjoying conversation with his family. Tommy enjoyed his work testing and fixing equipment on naval ships, and enjoyed the camaraderie of his coworkers. He took pride in “never using a day of leave,” and traveled extensively throughout his career. His favorite places to visit were Savannah and New Orleans. We all want our children to be our greatest accomplishment - and in his daughter Stephanie, Tommy succeeded beyond measure. Stephanie took from Tommy the incisive mind and keen sense of humor, and softened them with a generosity and kindness Tommy possessed and shared sparingly, but lovingly. Stephanie remained by his side to the end. And, Tommy will be deeply missed by his BFF, the one who could do no wrong, granddaughter Leah. They spent countless hours together, and whenever a decision needed to be made, he was always deferential: “Do whatever Leah wants.” Tommy was preceded in death by his sister Kathy Easom, and his parents Fred and Anne Breslin. He is survived by siblings Patrick Breslin, Michael Breslin, Margie Dunn, Billy Breslin, Nancy Paul, and Joanne Jones; his daughter Stephanie and son-in-law Bill Thomas; and his granddaughter Leah Thomas; and a small army of nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, in-laws and outlaws whose lives Tommy enriched. The family will receive friends on Wednesday, June 14, 2023 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM with prayers recited at 7:15PM in the Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home Leonardtown, MD. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Thursday June 15, 2023 (Tommy’s birthday), at 9 AM, St. Aloysius Church, Leonardtown MD with Father David Beaubien officating. Interment to follow at Queen of Peace Cemetery, Helen, MD. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be made in Tommy’s memory to Hospice at St. Mary’s (Medstar Health), or A Community that Shares (ACTS). If Tommy could make one request, it would be that all in attendance remember his cardinal rule for life: “If you can’t find it in St. Mary’s County, you don’t need it, and you probably shouldn’t have it.”