Craig Volker: Karl Franklin is quite right in his description of both Tom's pleasant character and his contribution to PNG linguistics. Tom was extremely encouraging to me as a young scholar and a welcome addition at the early LSPNG meetings I attended.

Just two days ago I recommended his "Police Motu Iena Sivarai" book to a woman from Papua now living overseas who was curious about the history of this important lingua franca in her home. This book is becoming difficult to get. I wonder if LSPNG could obtain the rights to the book and make it available for downloading from our website? More PNG people should have easy access to it.

Don Niles: I had many encounters with Tom over the years in PNG and Canberra. His books on learning Tok Pisin and Hiri Motu were my bibles in my learning those languages before and after I arrived here. He had a knack for writing with great insight and clarity, I believe, even for non-linguists. My wife was also his linguistics student at UPNG.