Thomas `Tom` Phelan

Thomas “Tom” Phelan, age 78, of Baraboo, died October 17, 2026, at home with his wife by his side.  He was born February 15, 1948, in Chicago, Illinois.  He moved to the Baraboo Area in 1968 with his stepdad Kenneth “Jack” Jackson, mother Dorcas June (Creed) Jackson, and brother Wayne Phelan.  He initially worked at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant in the Magazine Area, Smokeless, and ending in Rocket. Upon layoff, he got a job in the machine shop at the Blackhawk Jack Factory which was eventually bought out by Hein-Werner. When they moved production to Canada, he made one last career move to Teel Plastics. While working at Badger, he met the love of his life, Nancy Sharp. They were married October 23, 1971. They had two children.

He enjoyed the fishing trips to Fremont on the Wolf River that he took in the spring with his brother Nick and whoever else they could round up to go with them. They were always there for the white bass run. They did this for over forty years along with doing a long weekend trip in the fall. He was a huge Packers fan and loved Monday-morning quarterbacking the games. In the past several years his favorite thing was to holler “Go for two!” at the television even if there was no reason to do so. He was especially happy to see them win two Super Bowls. His greatest passions were setting up at the Badger Steam and Gas Engine Flea Market and collecting black amethyst glass. He started selling metal signs and transitioned to vintage tools. He loved looking for unique items at yard sales for resale and dickering prices with either sellers or buyers. In 1972 while browsing at a yard sale, a woman showed him a black wall sconce that when you held it up to the sun was really amethyst colored. With an amethyst birthstone, he was immediately attracted and bought it. In the next 52 years he amassed a collection of almost 1,300 pieces of black amethyst pieces. Thirty some years after buying his first piece he was able to purchase the mate to it. His collection led to many discussions with Nancy of quality versus quantity. She was looking for unique pieces while he was of the opinion that you could never have too many of one thing, hence his many, many Mark Anthony and Cleopatra Jim Beam bottles, for example. 

He is survived by his wife; his children, James (Courtney) Phelan, and Brandy (Mark) Lea; grandchildren Meghan (Tom Johnson) Phelan, Katelyn (Sydney) Tamiazzo, Christopher Donaker, Madison Donaker, and Ethan Lea; and was awaiting the birth of his first great grandson, Kalel in mid December. He is further survived by his brother Nick and his children Nick and Lori; as well as other relatives and friends. And he is survived by his cat Abby who loved him more than anyone else. He was preceded in death by his stepdad, mother, and brother Wayne.

 A private burial will be held at Walnut Hill Cemetery in Baraboo.

The family would like to thank Dr. Weber, Dr. Gehin, Dr. Kulkarni, and Dr. Behrs, as well as the nurses who worked with them for the kindness and care they showed Tom over his varied health issues. And thanks to Trudy Mara who provided his diabetes care until she retired, and gave him the great honor of naming a horse Red Phelan after him. Visits after that always required checking in on the well-being of Red Phelan. Also, thanks to SSM Health Hospice, especially CeCe, for the care they gave him in the last five weeks of his life.