Thomas Sloan Wootton

Tom Wootton passed away peacefully on Wednesday, June 10, 2026 at his home at Buncombe Creek Marina in Kingston, Oklahoma. He was 88 years old. Tom was born on March 23, 1938 in Wink, Texas to Joseph E. (JE) and Helen Wootton. He was raised on the oil fields all over West Texas. He went to school in Lubbock and Midland and eventually joined the Navy where he served in Patuxent River, Maryland. It was there that he met and married Dottie Tunnell. Very soon after the birth of their daughter, Terri, they moved the family to Texas. Tom then attended Texas Western College (University of Texas at El Paso) where he earned a bachelor's degree in engineering in 1968.

Tom married Karen Van Buren (Zientek) on November 27, 1971 in Midland, Texas and they began their lives together with Karen’s sons, Wayne and Dace, in Little Rock, Arkansas where Tom worked as an Engineer. Tom enjoyed a long career in electronics, inventing a burglar alarm system that was installed in businesses around the world.

Tom and Karen moved to Grapevine, Texas for several years before eventually moving to Oklahoma. Tom and Karen purchased Buncombe Creek Marina in 1988. Tom had a brilliant inventor’s mind. He was innovative and was always working on something new. He was at the cutting edge of electronics and brought that same mindset to the marina. He was always looking for a better way to do things and often designed dock parts and his own docks. Tom taught himself code and wrote the entire POS software system for the marina. Eventually, Wayne, Dace, Terri and her husband, Skip, also moved to Buncombe Creek to work in the family business. The Woottons owned the marina until it was sold in 2023 – a total of 35 years. Most of the family still lives at the lake to this day.

Tom is survived by his wife, Karen, daughter, Terri and husband Skip Weir, son, Dace Van Buren and wife Tahirih, son Wayne, and many grandchildren. Tom was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph Emmett Wootton and Helen Elizabeth Fletcher, sister, Mary Frances Zittel, daughter-in-law, Marsha Van Buren, and great granddaughter, Aubrey Winstead.