Thomas Dewitt

Thomas O’Dell DeWitt  - known as Dewey, passed away at home in Santa Fe on June 10th after a hard battle with cancer. His son Matthew DeWitt had been by his side for 24 days. Tom was known for the beautiful silver jewelry and art that he made, the “gift of gab”, original one-liners, his generosity, loving nature, and his positive attitude from his Christian Science upbringing.

Tom was born in Michigan and raised in Los Angeles California. He graduated from Venice high in 1965. He began his silversmith career directly after school while also working as a lighting technician for major venues in L.A. during the wave of the 1960’s psychedelic rock & roll concerts. He eventually landed a job with Fox Studios working as an electrician for long running TV series such as M.A.S.H., Dragnet, Loveboat, and others. He also worked on some big films The Doors, Lonesome Dove, Natural Born Killers, The Missing and others. He made frequent trips to Santa Fe starting when he was 21 to buy and sell jewelry, trade and pick up tools.

He made New Mexico his home in the 1970s settling in Pojoaque as a silversmith also returning to L.A. for work in the movie and T.V. business. He was one of the original “Anglo Silversmiths” in New Mexico and a trader. He called is jewelry “old pawn while you wait” because it looked like the old Native American jewelry found in pawn shops. He had a special relationship with the Zuni Pueblo and revered the culture and artistic styles of the Native American silversmiths and artisans.

He sold to major galleries in Santa Fe and had a line with Ralph Lauren in the early 2000s. He was extremely talented and people from all over the world collected his work. Tom was a silversmith for 52 years making over 20,000 pieces of southwestern and cowboy style jewelry and art.

He met and married his second wife Frances Sayre in Pecos in 1994 and had a son, Matthew DeWitt. He also took under his wing, Frances’ son, William McLean. Although the marriage did not last they continued to raise the boys together and remain friends.

Tom is survived by his son Matthew DeWitt of Santa Fe, step-son William McLean of Medford Oregon, and niece Laurie DeWitt of Los Angeles. He is preceded in death by his mother Virginia DeWitt, CSP and his father, Edgar Beverly DeWitt. Tom’s brother, Bob DeWitt passed away on June 14th four days after Tom and on their mother’s birthday.

Memorial service will be held at the Rivera funeral home June 27th at 4:00pm. Donations can be made to help defer the cost of the arrangements through Rivera funeral home 505-989-7032.

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