The following information was also posted in "Truth On Tate-laBianca � The Family � Family members � TJ Walleman".... My name is Cyn and I am TJ's sister-in-law. I am the widow of Tom's brother John Jr (John died in July, 1996). John was a year older than Tom and loved him dearly. They shared a very special bond. Tom was one of 7 children. Tom died in a head on collision with a Mac truck on June 7, 1995. He was 54 yrs old when he died. On the day of Tom's death, he and Lori (Ansom13) had just had a horrible fight. Tom dropped her off at their home, and then sped away in anger. He was trying to pass a car on a curve in the road and couldn't see the truck coming from around the bend. He couldn't get back into his lane fast enough to avoid the collision, according to witnesses. Tom and his pickup truck were burned and all that was left of Tom intact was one hand. After a memorial for Tom, Lori spread half of Tom's ashes in the desert...what could be salvaged from the wreckage. This was something Tom always wanted....a wish he specifically asked to be carried out after he died. He loved the desert. The other half of Tom's ashes were brought to Tom's family in Reno, NV where we had a second memorial ceremony for him. His ashes are interred in the Veteran's Memorial Cemetary in Fernley, NV. He is interred next to my husband John, his mother Marie and his father, John Sr. Tom and Lori did marry and had 3 children: Aslan, Light and Rivers. Lori died of cancer in October of 1998. She was in her early 30's. She was about 20 years younger than Tom. Tom and Lori's children were taken in by Lori's dad and they live a good life in California. My father-in-law, John Walleman Sr, and my mother-in-law, Marie were their grandparents. Marie died on May 5th, 1999 and John Sr. died in November, 2007 at 93 yrs of age. John Sr. kept in touch with his grandchildren up to his death. I do not know if anyone in the family still keeps in touch now, although there are at least two Walleman families close to where the childrem reside. Tom has two other children by his first wife, Rainbow or Bo as we called her. They had two daughters: Yana Mani and Domani. I believe that they still reside in California, where I first met them before Tom divorced Bo and eventually met Lori. I hope that this clarifies any thoughts or questions any of you may have had about Tom and Lori, and what happened to them. ---------------------------------------------- More information that I posted after the one above....in response to a question about Lori (Ansom 13): Question: "Cyn - tell us more about Lori - how did a fairly attractive woman get blindsided by CM? Even to the point of introducting her kids to the jail surrounding in order to meet "Uncle Charlie"? Or was she after the fame and notoriety it that it brought (certainly it didn't bring a lot of money!)" Answer: Unfortunately, I can't answer your question about Lori. Even though we interacted at family get-togethers, I never discussed with Tom or Lori anything about their involvement with Manson. I liked Lori. She was very intelligent, but I also think that she was a bit lost in terms of self-identity. If I were to guess at an answer to your question, Courtney, I would have to say that this was the basis for Lori's involvement with Tom in the first place. Tom was loyal to Manson, and therefore, so was Lori. She pretty much followed Tom's lead....not surprising since she loved him and he was more like a father to her (there was a big age difference between them). I don't really have any particulars, but I can ask my sister-in-law, Jan, for more info on Lori. Jan is married to Dave, Tom's brother. She is the family "historian" of sorts. Tom and Lori spent a lot of time with Jan and Dave. They lived with them for awhile. Jan and I still keep in touch even though my husband John (Tom's brother) died in 1996. One thing about the Walleman family...once you marry into it, you are a family member forever regardless of what happens. This included anyone who was divorced from a family member....they remain involved with the family even afterward. Maybe it goes to the fact that they were Sicilian, a culture who value family greatly. This was very true of all the Wallemans from my years with them (26 yrs). After my husband died, I was still actively involved with all the Wallemans constantly. Now I mostly connect with Jan, since I live in the Eastern part of the US and Jan is still in Reno, NV. As for Tom, I loved his energy and what I did know about him from my interactions with him. He was highly intelligent. I am not speaking about his choices in life, so much as his brain power. He was also a good man, as far as I knew. But he was definitely anti-government. Most of the Wallemans were. They were all very self-directed and hard-working...except for Tom, I think. He was the "black sheep" in this regard. But he always said that this was due to injuries he suffered when he was a marine. I will post from time to time as I get any more information that might be of interest to all of you. Thanks for the welcome and for your kind words.
