Life Story
Thomas "Tom" Brian Vandegrift
August 27, 1956 – April 19, 2023
Thomas "Tom" Brian Vandegrift of Paradise, California, passed away on April 19, 2023, in Chico, after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 66.
Tom was known for being a wordsmith, and music poured out of his soul. Born on August 27, 1956, in Modesto, to Rolland A. Harnden Vandegrift and Nedra McClees Vandegrift, he spent his boyhood at Meadowbrook Ranch in DeSabla, and was schooled at Paradise Elementary, Canyon View Elementary, Paradise High School, and Ridgeview High School, graduating in 1976.
Music claimed him early and never let go. Drums were "LOVE" at first sight, as he put it. He learned the drums in his parents' basement, his father at the piano, the two of them playing Dixieland together, and they took that Dixieland to pizza restaurants, including Shakey's Pizza. He played in the Paradise High marching band. Across the decades he played drums for thirteen Paradise and Chico bands — Peak, The Habbit, Stone Fox, Rod Wilvanbec, North Roxx, The Funkabillies, 30 Fingers, Unity, Liquid Chicken, Pladd Planet, Pounded Clown, Spy Picnic, and FREESTONE — and on stage with Rod Wilvanbec he was known as "Tommy Van Vandegrift." Peak took him to Hollywood in 1978. North Roxx's "No Doubt About It" made the Chico Album II. The Habbit nearly landed a record deal in 1979 — Earl McGrath, president of Rolling Stones Records, came to Meadowbrook Ranch. In 1980, The Habbit opened for Greg Kihn at the sold-out Hangtown Dance at Acker Gym during Pioneer Week. He played sold-out gigs, packing people in like sardines.
He taught his kids the love of great music. As children, his sons would lie inside his kick drum, the front head off, while he played, absorbing his rhythm. Both of his sons took up the drums.
He never dropped a beat — he just passed the sticks to his sons.
He loved his children and his grandchildren with everything he had, and he liked to make creative rock stackings, setting stone upon stone with the same patient balance he brought to music.
In February 2019, a heart attack nearly took him; he was life-flighted to Sutter Hospital in Sacramento, and he lived, returning to the stage in Monterey a month later. When the Camp Fire of 2018 took the whole town — his home and his beloved Pearl drum kit with it — he built his cabin on the ranch at Meadowbrook, and it remains the place where his family gathers around him still.
Tom was a Freemason of the Paradise Masonic Lodge, where his funeral was held, following many in his family before him — his great-grandfather Sam was Master in 1925.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Rolland A. Harnden Vandegrift and Nedra McClees Vandegrift. He was previously married to Tammy Lynn Harvey. He is survived by his sons, Kyle Allen Vandegrift and Jeff Brian Vandegrift; his brother, Douglas Alan Vandegrift; his grandchildren, Kynzlee Lynn Vandegrift and Hunter James Vandegrift; his niece, Nicole Vandegrift, and her children, Nova and Zedd; and his dog, Barley Bean.
Tom was a good man who would always help his friends. He was loved by many, and he left a legacy up here in these foothills.
"Life is all about change, and how you deal with it and knowing the beat goes on...." 🥁
