ABOUT TOM SAWYER

Tom lived a full life with his wife Elaine and their two sons in Rochester, New York. Below is the story of his birth, life and death.

1. Tom Sawyer & Mark Twain
2. Tom the Enlightened Being
3. Tom the Man
4. Tom’s Near-Death Experience
5. The Near-Death Hotel
6. Another Brush with Death
7. Tom Gets Ordained
8. Tom and Sidney Write Books
9. Tom’s Final Death

 

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Tom Sawyer & Mark Twain

Before his death experience, sharing names with the famous, fictional character helped Tom become the man he was. He developed an amazing sense of humor through the teasing which allowed him to laugh with everyone. Tom Sawyer became a class comedian: outgoing, magnetic, and unafraid of ridicule. His name went on to become a great ice-breaker during introductions. 

Both Tom Sawyers—the fictional boy from Mark Twain and the real man—symbolize the adventurous American spirit and the journey of transformation. Each underwent death and rebirth: Twain’s Tom faked his death and returned wiser, while the real Tom died and came back profoundly changed–reborn, some would say. Both challenged the boundaries of ordinary life, embodying a deeper search for truth, meaning, and personal awakening.

 

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Tom the Enlightened Being

Tom Sawyer was an ordinary, hard-working, family man from Rochester, New York, whose life was forever changed when he died in 1978 at the age of 33. His truck collapsed on him while he was working on it, and the weight of it crushed his chest flat, pushing all the air out of his lungs. He suffocated and was clinically dead for 15 minutes. 

During this time, in a spaceless place with no time, Tom was in a tunnel with light at the end, met Christ and came to know who Jesus of Nazareth was, and underwent a full life review–the typical hallmarks of a true near-death experience (NDE). Where Tom Sawyer’s story diverges from other NDEs, however, is what happened after he was asked if he wanted to return to Earth. He declined, totally merged with the Light of God–and total knowledge–then was reconstituted and sent back to his Earthly body anyway. 

In merging with the Light, he effectively handed over his Free Will to God, returning more a function of the Light than as Tom. He was completely Enlightened, with phenomenal psychic abilities, vivid memories of our true home, and work to do. Tom started downloading knowledge on a daily basis on topics such as advanced physics, math, future events, and other information that needed to be passed along. All this information had become a part of him when he merged with the Light. On his return, he received precognitions of planes for him to watch over, nuclear detonations to prevent, and knowledge of biblical significance pertaining to the earth changes that have already begun to occur. 

Watch Prophetic Voices to hear Tom Sawyer share his story in a 1979 documentary, interview by Dr. Kenneth Ring.

Tom was asked to do three things, which he’d accomplished by the age of 44:

• Share his experience with the Light, and teach that death doesn’t exist.
• Prevent nuclear war (summer of 1988) without directly interfering with human history. 
• Assist in bringing the Order of Melchizedek into the Age of Aquarius, establishing a network of spiritually receptive people from all walks of life, and to teach the Priesthood.

For 11 years, Tom did his spiritual work with an uncanny connection to total knowledge and unconditional love; to keep loving vigil on Earth; and to help prepare for Mother Earth’s transition. Tom was granted many of the “gifts” of the Holy Spirit in order to deliver on his charge of teaching and healing.

Tom became very popular on the mainstream media’s NDE circuit, particularly in the early 1990s when people were very interested in learning about life after death. He reached millions of people by being on shows like Oprah Winfrey, Phil Donahue, Good Morning America, and even Unsolved Mysteries.  His death experience and its after-effects were heavily researched by numerous doctors, making his story one of the most documented NDEs ever.

Tom’s charismatic personality easily drew people to him, often changing the lives of people he met. He radiated a warmth and humor for all, sharing it through hugs and an ability to talk on almost any subject. A naturally outgoing, joyous person to be around, many people have said: to meet Tom is to love him. 

 

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Tom the Man

Tom Joseph Sawyer was born on September 9, 1945 in Rochester, upstate New York. He was born on the 9th day of the 9th month, at 9 minutes past the 9th hour. The numerology of 9 is associated with completion, or in his case, the birth of a completed master-teacher avatar. 

According to friends, he always said his real birthday was May 23rd, 1978–the date of his NDE. He occasionally commented that his NDE was a day late, which was a reference to his statement that the vibration of the Priesthood is 22. 

His mother, Florence “Scottie” Hockey, had known as young as 9 years old that she would have a blond-haired, blue-eyed,  boy named Tom. A decade later, she fell in love with Arthur Sawyer, a former master sergeant during World War II (1943). She was a little hesitant, with him having the last name of Sawyer, that he’d go along with a first name of Tom, but he did. He graduated from Walter Reed Medical School prior to his military service, and later received an honorable discharge after he was severely injured in a mine sweeper explosion.

Tom’s mother opened Scottie’s Nursery School on Sheridan Street, in Rochester. His father Arthur worked at the Ritter Company for 36 years making medical equipment, until he came down with a terminal illness. They loved their 5 children dearly. Tom had two older sisters, born approximately two years apart. He also had two younger sisters, the first born 12 years after him and the youngest seven years after that. Tom cared for his younger sisters like his older ones had cared for him.

In 1951, the young Tom Sawyer went to Henry Lomb School Number 20 in Rochester. He then attended junior high at Ben Franklin High School, where he was very active with sports, including water ballet. There, the outgoing jokester was interested in girls, sports and tomfoolery. In a school of about 3600 kids, everyone knew who Tom Sawyer was. He became an avid biker, and girls loved doing his homework for him–which got him through high school. Here, he met his future wife, Elaine Powers, who fell in love with him. But they did not date each other until a few years after they’d graduated. They finished high school in1964.

Tom fell in love with Elaine during the summer of 1966. He was doing well for himself; he was working as a carpenter, and had just bought a brand new truck when he knocked on her door. Him and Elaine were married on August 12, 1967, in a big church wedding in Rochester, NY. Soon afterwards, they gave birth to two sons: Todd (Dec. 1968) and Tim (1974). Tom was a heavy equipment operator by the time of his first death, with barely a high school diploma–due to Elaine doing most of his homework for him. 

For a full account of Tom Sawyer’s life in Tom’s own words, please read What Tom Sawyer Learned from Dying by Sidney Saylor Farr.

 

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Tom’s Near Death Experience

It was 6:41pm on May 23, 1978, in Rochester, New York. Tom had slid beneath his pickup truck to adjust the transmission linkage. Because he was teaching his nine year old son, Todd, about mechanics, he had been careful to put extra jacks beneath the truck as well as blocks of wood for safety. He told Todd, “I wouldn’t want you to pinch a finger.”

Air pockets beneath the asphalt gave way, collapsing all his careful precautions. The truck crushed his chest down to three inches thick, pushing the air completely out of his lungs. Bolts sticking down from the frame poked between the bones of his rib cage, complicating the effort of pulling him out. Thirty-two people quickly gathered from around the neighborhood. By the time he was rescued–using a 4×4 with a fireplace log as a fulcrum to lift the truck–he’d been clinically dead for 15 minutes. 

Watch a reenactment video of Tom Sawyer’s death by Unsolved Mysteries, in 1992.

Watch a video of Tom recounting his full near-death experience.

Tom went on to have a total-death experience (TDE). TDEs go deeper than a typical near-death experience (NDE) or an out-of-body experience (OBE). When a person experiences a traumatic event, their souls will sometimes detach from the body in an OBE. NDEs experience clinical death with something like a tunnel where they may meet long-dead relatives, any number of beings in white or other heavenly appearing colors, perhaps see crystal cities and many other variations of paradise-style imagery.  Then they come back, either by choice or it wasn’t time yet. In a TDE, the soul goes totally into the Light and loses all individuality, truly becoming One with God and total knowledge. It’s like pouring a cup of water back into the ocean.  That cup of water no longer exists. There is only ocean. It’s extremely rare for a soul to be reassembled from God’s memory of it and sent back from there.

Tom considered himself an agnostic before his NDE, but came back knowing of a loving God, a great plan for humanity, and a purpose for his existence on Earth. He had a new breadth of compassion that completely shifted the way he behaved and treated other people. For example, he used to be abusive towards Elaine–to the point that her own mother never trusted him again–but now he was the most caring, compassionate person she could ever meet. It took some adjusting, but it saved their marriage in the long run. They still squabbled like couples will do, but the cruelty was out of the equation. 

During the 1980s, Tom began receiving “downloads” with tons of information that he was compelled to share. There wasn’t any pattern to what he was receiving, it was all just knowledge from having merged with the Light which was now coming to his consciousness from the subconscious. He’d often find himself thinking, “Oh, now I remember what’s going to happen tomorrow.” These downloads became very interrupting, occurring several times a day for a while. Elaine suggested he write them down, leading to a number of spiral bound notebooks laying about the house for him to pick up quickly.  When he became One with the Light and experienced an instant out-of-time, he became aware of a multitude of future events, including:

• plane crashes,
• scientific breakthroughs, particularly in the area of biochemical functions of the brain,
• suicides,
• pollution worldwide,
• fulfillment of religious prophecy,
• synchronicities, and
• malicious nuclear detonations.

Elaine convinced Tom to write it all down because he kept telling her everything and she didn’t understand any of it. He wrote spiral notebook after spiral notebook with quantum theories, cutting edge science, formulas, things he knew about people, and events that were to happen. He now believed in the Love of God, and knew that Jesus was real. These were things that he had never cared about before his TDE; in fact he scoffed at “that psychic stuff” and religions were for “those people”. 

In time, the notebooks were given away to whomever they were intended for. Tom always did his best to pass along all the messages he received.

Spinal Cord Injury – A Healing Miracle – Tom realized soon after his death experience that he had the ability to heal people.  One day, he was unable to prevent the accident of one of his coworkers on a job site, but through loving the man unconditionally he was able to rebuild his spinal column before the EMT’s arrived.  Healing took a physical toll on Tom’s body, however, teaching Tom a powerful lesson that some things are supposed to happen to serve as learning opportunities. Did this man need to be paralyzed, perhaps, to change the robotics regarding paralyzed people from the waist down?  From What Tom Sawyer Learned from Dying, Chapter 19: Healing.

 

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The Near-Death Hotel

Right before his death experience, Elaine had read Dr. Raymond A. Moody’s book “Life After Life” and recognized that Tom had an NDE. At her suggestion, he wrote a short letter about his experience and mailed it to Dr. Moody. Moody was traveling overseas at the time, but as soon as the letter was received, Moody’s wife called Elaine long-distance on the landline and told them that they were very interested in the finished audiotape of his NDE. He should send it to Dr. Kenneth Ring at the University of Connecticut, she said, who was now carrying on Moody’s research. It took Tom 3 months to finish the tape and mail it.

When Tom bought a new calendar, he flipped through it and wrote names or words on specific dates without knowing anything else other than that word. On one of those days, six months in the future, he wrote down Dr. Moody’s name. And sure enough, they did meet by coincidence that day. Read the full story in What Tom Sawyer Learned from Dying, Chapter 11, Virginia Beach and the Dolphins. 

Tom enrolled in science classes at the Empire State College so he could understand what he was writing down, and speak intelligently about it. Eventually he became too preoccupied with Moody’s group and had to take administrative leave. Through his connection with Dr. Ring, who was a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Connecticut, Tom had opportunities to discuss science with professors so he could make sense of it all.

In August of 1978, Dr. Ring, Dr. Greyson and 2 others founded the I.A.N.D.S.: the International Association for Near-Death Studies. Tom visited Dr. Ring’s Near-Death Hotel frequently, where anywhere from 20 to 30 near-death experiencers would be present at any time to meet with the doctors and pass information along. The NDErs would share their downloads with each other to get a bigger picture of the very same events, some providing additional details and corroborating others. Any information that was critical to homeland security and national intelligence was quickly delivered to the proper channels. A lot of NDErs are given information by one entity or another during their experiences and are generally eager to share what they’ve learned. Sometimes, they have information which they know must not be shared, because the person or the situation isn’t ready yet.  Tom, having by-passed all imagery and “dissolved” into the Light, could remember his split of a second in total knowledge and give answers from that memory–it was not messages from another entity. He was the entity. He seemed to be able to answer anything, and was eager to share more than he’d been asked about. 

Tom was at this peak psychically during the early to mid 1980s after which the daily downloads began to lessen. 

The Dolphin Story – While vacationing with his family in Virginia Beach Tom got up early the first day to watch the sunrise over the ocean. It was enjoyable and pleasant but there were people out walking, jogging, and doing yoga on the beach as well. To get more solitude the next day he swam about a half mile out into the ocean. The sunrise was again wonderful and enjoyable. As he swam back a group of dolphins joined him by swimming either in horizontal circles around him or in vertical circles in front of him. They stayed with him right up onto the shore where he became concerned they might beach themselves and not be able to get back into the water. The full story can be found in What Tom Sawyer Learned from Dying, Chapter 11, Beach and the Dolphins.

During that time, Tom was very active with I.A.N.D.S. and traveled to a lot of different universities and colleges to share his experience and answer questions. Two books that he has recommended to read often are “Seat of the Soul” by Gary Zukav, and “One” by Orest. Although Tom was featured on the Geraldo Show in 1989, the Phil Donahue Show in 1988 Unsolved Mysteries in 1992, and Elaine’s favorite, Oprah in 1991, he never desired to be on any of them. There were particular reasons for each one, especially the Phil Donahue show. He never desired to seek out publicity, but when he talked people would listen for hours on end.

Watch Oprah talk about NDEs and with Tom.

Watch The Phil Donahue Show with Tom and Jackie on Facebook.

In February 1984, Tom showed up for a talk show called The Open Door, where he met Reverend Daniel Chesbro. Rev. Dan was a Baptist Priest turned talkshow host, and Tom was there to be interviewed by him. Soon afterwards, Rev. Dan dreamed that Tom came to tell him that it was time to call the Priesthood back together, citing Psalm 110. Rev. Dan began ordaining people into the Order of Melchizedek in 1986. 

 

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Another Brush with Death

Tom Sawyer had another brush with death during back surgery on January 29th, 1990 where he nearly died. Now at the age of 44, he had developed back problems in his spinal column due to a loader accident, in which a hard slam crushed 4 or 5 vertebrae. Even with his extraordinary abilities, Tom never quit his job operating heavy machinery on construction sites; he was still very much a hardworking, blue collar man. The back injury was compounded by residual energy from a psychic healing he’d given to his co-worker’s spinal cord many years before. Tom needed a laminectomy to treat his pinched sciatica nerve, and he briefly died during the procedure due to too much anesthetic.

Tom was a national caliber bicycle racer at the time of his NDE. Having the powerful physicality and mental concentration required for that level of racing allowed him to perform surprising feats of telekinesis during the 1980s. However, since telekinesis is linked to physical health and energy his abilities began to fade as his back problems intensified. By the mid 1990s he mentioned that no one on Earth could do more than move a pencil across a table.

In the early days, he was able to remote heal people easily, but now he couldn’t astrally bi-locate like before. He found it easier to facilitate powerful healings in person. He was still very much in tune with the Light–once you know Love, you know–but he’d completed his mission and it was time to tune it down a notch. 

Tom Gets Ordained

Tom was ordained by Rev. Daniel Chesbro into the Order of Melchizedek on September 15th, 1991. The Priesthood was planning a trip to anchor Blue Light around the globe. They’d been talking about it and getting ideas from Tom.  Tom decided to go, but said it would be sacrilegious for him to be in the ceremonies if he were not ordained also–even though many of the directions were coming through him. 

Tom’s ordination was on a small, hidden beach at the Braddock Bay Marina, in the Town of Greece. Tom and Rev. Dan were the only ones that were there that day for the private ceremony.  Nowadays, priests and friends of Tom sometimes pilgrimage there for communion. “As long as you eat and drink, think of me.“

Did Tom Walk on Water? – Tom wanted a private ceremony the day he was ordained. He didn’t want witnesses, just he and Dan. During the ceremony, a bee kept flying around Tom’s head, stinging him 3 times. According to Rev. Dan, after his ordination Rev. Tom stood up and began walking towards Lake Ontario. He walked about 60 yards, about half a football field. Tom mentioned later on that there were often sand bars out that far, but he was only wet up to his ankles. Source: Tom Sawyer: A Modern-Day Messenger from God, by Dan Chesbro.

Tom and the Priesthood went to Tibet, Nepal, India and Egypt for the first time between November 9th and 20th of 1991. They wanted to circumnavigate the world and encircle it with Blue Light at the 33 degrees North latitude. Their purpose was to anchor Blue Light in sacred spaces and temples to provide spiritual healing for the entire population of the planet. Some of these areas are also prone to earthquakes and volcanoes. 

They travelled far into Tibet to Yamdrok Tso, also known as the Turquoise Lake. Tom said it was the most sacred place in the world, and as beautiful as Shangri La. In Egypt, they went to the Great Pyramid of Giza and at midnight, 133 Melchizedek priests held a peace vigil in the King’s Chamber. They also held a powerful ceremony to anchor the Blue Light. See Tom Sawyer: A Modern-Day Messenger of God for more details on the ceremony. 

Tom and Sidney Write Books

After his NDE Tom knew he was supposed to write a book, he also knew he’d never get around to it himself. In the early 1990s Sydney Saylor Farr got a message from her sister saying, “There’s something you’re supposed to do. You better say yes to it or someone else will be chosen.” She later related that her first meeting with Tom was simply passing him in a hallway where he pointed at her and said, “Yes!”

Her first book about Tom was published in 1993, What Tom Sawyer Learned from Dying. It was transcribed from recordings of talks Tom had given around the globe, with additional questions from Sidney.

In 1995 Tom traveled to India, Nepal, and Tibet again, with a smaller group. One reason for the first trip was to find the fabled “Lost Temple of Tibet” which they did. This second trip was to anchor the Blue Light in the Lhasa valley, within sight of the Potala. This was complicated by a heavy Chinese police presence, forbidding religious gatherings. Yet it was done, quietly and without incident.

Of a disturbing note was the lack of working age Tibetans on the second trip. The first trip was punctuated by many Tibetans of all ages doing their religious prostrations in their typically colorful traditional clothing. They were all gone in only four years’ time.

Joh Joh Abonader was essential in securing an appointment with the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso in Dharmsala, India, during the 1995 trip. Her connections with the exiled Tibetan community in Montreal, where she lived, allowed the group to time their visit to when he would not be traveling abroad.

This turned out to be very synchronous. The Dalai Lama had been sick for three months prior to the appointment. Richard Hughson had brought his clown costume to entertain the children at the Tibetan Children’s Village, but got caught not having enough time to change before visiting the Dalai Lama. The combination of a clown, the natural good humor of the Dalai Lama, and the camaraderie of the group resulted in a spontaneous healing upon the Dalai Lama. He was no longer sick.

Tom’s trips to anchor the Blue Light went on to Germany and Britain, and even Sedona, Arizona after Tom’s passing.

Some of the healing places where the Blue Light was anchored are:

• Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt
• Sedona, Arizona
• Los Angeles, California
• Hawaii
• Stonehenge, England
• Findhorn, Scotland
• Fatima, Portugal
• Dornburg, Germany
• Niagara Falls, Canada
• Lhasa, Tibet
• The Turquoise Lake, Tibet. 

After both trips to Tibet, Tom sat down with Sidney and her son Bruce to work on their next book, Tom Sawyer and the Spiritual Whirlwind. It is another set of interviews where Tom goes into great detail about their trips to Tibet, happiness, and teachings that didn’t make it in the first book.  He speaks more about God, angels, suicide, abortion and a multitude of other topics. 

In the Eye of the Tornado – In March of 1996 Tom knew he had to meet with Sidney at her home in Kentucky on April 19th, but didn’t know why. It wasn’t until an hour before the tornado hit that Tom found out he was destined to be at her house for that very experience. Tom, while nearly getting sucked out of a window himself, prayed fervently and was able to be of assistance to the people in the town as the eye of the tornado passed over them. An older woman who tried to leave her house reported that an angel appeared, pushing her back inside. The house fell down around her, without touching her at all. The people of Berea were spiritually receptive; no one was seriously injured or killed during the tornado itself. From Tom Sawyer and the Spiritual Whirlwind by Sidney Saylor Farr, Chapter 3.

After the intense psychic activity of the 1980s; the TV appearances, which he never asked for; his military connections to The Human Technologies Task Force; The global travels to anchor the Blue Light into the 2000s; and the birth of his first grandchild; Tom was ready to settle into just being Grandpa Tom.

A chance meeting with Mother Meera in 1989 didn’t come to be. But in 1997, during a trip to see her in Germany, she almost completely healed his back, enough so that he could toss his granddaughter up onto his shoulders and carry her a quarter of a mile to school. It was a great relief to him.

Tom gave many teachings on healing, how to, when not to, and warnings about unforeseen results. Here is a scribbled note to himself, about himself, for us to learn from. See the entire sheet, and a typed copy. 

 

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Tom’s Final Death

16 years after he nearly died from back surgery, Tom Sawyer died for the final time, peacefully and in hospice care. It was April 28th 2007, his wife’s birthday. When he knew it was time, he sent Elaine away to be with their kids. He had been dying from pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive lung disease, and was living with oxygen tanks to assist his breathing.  He did not want his family to see him struggle for his final breath. After a final visit from his close friend, Richard, he transitioned during a quiet moment, alone.

Tom had 61 trips around the sun, and nearly completed 30 years of dedicated service on Earth. His passing marked the conclusion of a life committed to sharing messages of unconditional love, healing, eternal life, reincarnation and the inter-connectedness of every single soul.

Tom promised that he would never communicate via channelers. He did, however, send messages to his wife Elaine soon after he passed away via an EMT named Lynda Cummings who had cared for him on his last day. She was receptive to his after-death communications. Read Lynda Cummings story found in Tom’s last letter to Dr. Kenneth Ring. 

After his death, Tom Sawyer was cremated and his ashes were spread over Lake Ontario from his son Todd’s boat, with just a few close relatives. A celebration of life was held soon afterwards with friends and family. Elaine passed away 7 years later on August 25, 2014, at the age of 67.