Funeral Services for Thomas “Tony” Sappington, III, 55, of Richmond, TX, are set for 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 15, 2016, at Garmany & Carden Funeral Directors Chapel, 1201 Fourth Street, Rosenberg, TX 77471. Visitation will be from 1:00 – 2:00 PM Tuesday, for one hour preceding the funeral service.

A Graveside Service will be 1:00 PM Wednesday, March 16, 2016, at Providence Cemetery, Dialville, TX (near Rusk, TX).

He was born Thomas Barnett Sappington, III, on January 21, 1961, in Port Arthur, Texas, to Thomas Barnett Sappington, Sr. and Janet Butler Sappington. He died March 10, 2016, at his home in Richmond, TX.

Tony was a proud 1979 graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School, 1984 graduate of Lamar University with Bachelor Of Science in Physics, and 1986 graduate of

University of North Texas with Masters Of Science in Physics. He taught Physics classes at Lamar University, and he worked at Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, as Senior Metrology Engineer on the space shuttle program. Tony returned to Texas to start his own business in 1996.

Tony loved his family. He was a loyal friend, and he never met a stranger. Tony will be remembered as a very kind, honest, & generous man, with a great sense of humor that can only be described as “authentically Tony”!

Survivors include his son, Dillon Sappington of College Station, TX;  mother, Janet Sappington of Richmond, TX; grandson, Cody Sawyer of Lumberton TX; step-daughter, Brittany Coker of Beaumont, TX; brother, Scot Sappington and his wife, Tara, of Coppell, TX;  and the many members of his “extended family from the gym”, as well as countless friends from all over the USA.

He will be dearly missed by all, because there is only one Tony…..

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be given in his name to a local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post or online at vfw.org or to Shiners’ Hospital for Children, 6977 Main Street, Houston, TX 77030.

Condolence messages may be written for the Sappington family atwww.garmanycarden.com.

Services are under the direction of Garmany & Carden Funeral Directors, 1201 Fourth Street, Rosenberg, TX 77471  (281)342-4671.