Thomas Blake "Tom" Lockard was an original member of The Mariners, a pop and gospel quartet most noted for their long association with Arthur Godfrey on his radio and television shows. Tom was born March 17, 1918, in Baltimore to Alfred Blake Lockard and Mabel Esther Leech Lockard. After living in Brooklyn for most of his childhood, Tom moved to Los Angeles with his parents and two sisters in 1933. He graduated from El Monte High School and Pasadena Junior College, then majored in music at the University of California in Los Angeles. While at UCLA, Tom sang with the Los Angeles Opera Company.
Tom registered for the draft in the fall of 1940, as all American men between the ages of 21 and 45 were required to do after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Selective Training and Service Act. When the United States entered World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, many of the men who had registered for the draft volunteered for service. Tom joined the United States Coast Guard and was stationed at the Third Naval District in Manhattan Beach, New York.
At Manhattan Beach in 1942, former Southernaires quartet tenor Homer Smith formed the U. S. Coast Guard Quartet with Thomas Lockard (baritone and tenor), Martin Boughan (baritone), and James Lewis (bass and baritone). Although the armed forces were segregated at the time, the newly-formed quartet was integrated: Smith and Lewis were black, Lockard and Broughan were white. The four men performed together for the rest of the war, and decided to continue the act after they were discharged from the military in December of 1945. Since they were no longer in the U. S. Coast Guard, they changed the group's name to The Mariners.
Soon after The Mariners joined Arthur Godfrey's CBS network radio show in November of 1946, Homer Smith left the group he had formed and was replaced by tenor Nathaniel Dickerson. Jim Lewis, Tom Lockard, Marty Karl (the professional name Martin Broughan had chosen), and Nat Dickerson remained with Godfrey on his radio and television shows until he abruptly fired The Mariners in April of 1955. (Abrupt dismissals of regular performers, sometimes during live shows, were standard occurences for Arthur Godfrey in the 1950s.) The Mariners' recording and personal appearance careers were not adversely affected by Godfrey's action, however. Tom Lockard stayed with the group until 1958.
After his time with The Mariners, Lockard and his family moved from their home in Merrick, New York, to El Monte, California. He worked as a sales representative for a Los Angeles area company. Later he became a deputy clerk of the Superior Court in Los Angeles, a position from which he retired in 1978. In later years, he was also a restaurateur.
Tom Lockard had two daughters with his first wife Dorothea, and a third daughter with his second wife, singer Jinny Cole Osborn Lockard Janis of The Chordettes. The three daughters and Lockard's third wife, Marilyn Filkins Lockard, were his survivors when he passed away on September 3, 2006, in Eugene, Oregon.
Tom registered for the draft in the fall of 1940, as all American men between the ages of 21 and 45 were required to do after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Selective Training and Service Act. When the United States entered World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, many of the men who had registered for the draft volunteered for service. Tom joined the United States Coast Guard and was stationed at the Third Naval District in Manhattan Beach, New York.
At Manhattan Beach in 1942, former Southernaires quartet tenor Homer Smith formed the U. S. Coast Guard Quartet with Thomas Lockard (baritone and tenor), Martin Boughan (baritone), and James Lewis (bass and baritone). Although the armed forces were segregated at the time, the newly-formed quartet was integrated: Smith and Lewis were black, Lockard and Broughan were white. The four men performed together for the rest of the war, and decided to continue the act after they were discharged from the military in December of 1945. Since they were no longer in the U. S. Coast Guard, they changed the group's name to The Mariners.
Soon after The Mariners joined Arthur Godfrey's CBS network radio show in November of 1946, Homer Smith left the group he had formed and was replaced by tenor Nathaniel Dickerson. Jim Lewis, Tom Lockard, Marty Karl (the professional name Martin Broughan had chosen), and Nat Dickerson remained with Godfrey on his radio and television shows until he abruptly fired The Mariners in April of 1955. (Abrupt dismissals of regular performers, sometimes during live shows, were standard occurences for Arthur Godfrey in the 1950s.) The Mariners' recording and personal appearance careers were not adversely affected by Godfrey's action, however. Tom Lockard stayed with the group until 1958.
After his time with The Mariners, Lockard and his family moved from their home in Merrick, New York, to El Monte, California. He worked as a sales representative for a Los Angeles area company. Later he became a deputy clerk of the Superior Court in Los Angeles, a position from which he retired in 1978. In later years, he was also a restaurateur.
Tom Lockard had two daughters with his first wife Dorothea, and a third daughter with his second wife, singer Jinny Cole Osborn Lockard Janis of The Chordettes. The three daughters and Lockard's third wife, Marilyn Filkins Lockard, were his survivors when he passed away on September 3, 2006, in Eugene, Oregon.
Thomas Blake "Tom" Lockard was an original member of The Mariners, a pop and gospel quartet most noted for their long association with Arthur Godfrey on his radio and television shows. Tom was born March 17, 1918, in Baltimore to Alfred Blake Lockard and Mabel Esther Leech Lockard. After living in Brooklyn for most of his childhood, Tom moved to Los Angeles with his parents and two sisters in 1933. He graduated from El Monte High School and Pasadena Junior College, then majored in music at the University of California in Los Angeles. While at UCLA, Tom sang with the Los Angeles Opera Company.
Tom registered for the draft in the fall of 1940, as all American men between the ages of 21 and 45 were required to do after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Selective Training and Service Act. When the United States entered World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, many of the men who had registered for the draft volunteered for service. Tom joined the United States Coast Guard and was stationed at the Third Naval District in Manhattan Beach, New York.
At Manhattan Beach in 1942, former Southernaires quartet tenor Homer Smith formed the U. S. Coast Guard Quartet with Thomas Lockard (baritone and tenor), Martin Boughan (baritone), and James Lewis (bass and baritone). Although the armed forces were segregated at the time, the newly-formed quartet was integrated: Smith and Lewis were black, Lockard and Broughan were white. The four men performed together for the rest of the war, and decided to continue the act after they were discharged from the military in December of 1945. Since they were no longer in the U. S. Coast Guard, they changed the group's name to The Mariners.
Soon after The Mariners joined Arthur Godfrey's CBS network radio show in November of 1946, Homer Smith left the group he had formed and was replaced by tenor Nathaniel Dickerson. Jim Lewis, Tom Lockard, Marty Karl (the professional name Martin Broughan had chosen), and Nat Dickerson remained with Godfrey on his radio and television shows until he abruptly fired The Mariners in April of 1955. (Abrupt dismissals of regular performers, sometimes during live shows, were standard occurences for Arthur Godfrey in the 1950s.) The Mariners' recording and personal appearance careers were not adversely affected by Godfrey's action, however. Tom Lockard stayed with the group until 1958.
After his time with The Mariners, Lockard and his family moved from their home in Merrick, New York, to El Monte, California. He worked as a sales representative for a Los Angeles area company. Later he became a deputy clerk of the Superior Court in Los Angeles, a position from which he retired in 1978. In later years, he was also a restaurateur.
Tom Lockard had two daughters with his first wife Dorothea, and a third daughter with his second wife, singer Jinny Cole Osborn Lockard Janis of The Chordettes. The three daughters and Lockard's third wife, Marilyn Filkins Lockard, were his survivors when he passed away on September 3, 2006, in Eugene, Oregon.
Tom registered for the draft in the fall of 1940, as all American men between the ages of 21 and 45 were required to do after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Selective Training and Service Act. When the United States entered World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, many of the men who had registered for the draft volunteered for service. Tom joined the United States Coast Guard and was stationed at the Third Naval District in Manhattan Beach, New York.
At Manhattan Beach in 1942, former Southernaires quartet tenor Homer Smith formed the U. S. Coast Guard Quartet with Thomas Lockard (baritone and tenor), Martin Boughan (baritone), and James Lewis (bass and baritone). Although the armed forces were segregated at the time, the newly-formed quartet was integrated: Smith and Lewis were black, Lockard and Broughan were white. The four men performed together for the rest of the war, and decided to continue the act after they were discharged from the military in December of 1945. Since they were no longer in the U. S. Coast Guard, they changed the group's name to The Mariners.
Soon after The Mariners joined Arthur Godfrey's CBS network radio show in November of 1946, Homer Smith left the group he had formed and was replaced by tenor Nathaniel Dickerson. Jim Lewis, Tom Lockard, Marty Karl (the professional name Martin Broughan had chosen), and Nat Dickerson remained with Godfrey on his radio and television shows until he abruptly fired The Mariners in April of 1955. (Abrupt dismissals of regular performers, sometimes during live shows, were standard occurences for Arthur Godfrey in the 1950s.) The Mariners' recording and personal appearance careers were not adversely affected by Godfrey's action, however. Tom Lockard stayed with the group until 1958.
After his time with The Mariners, Lockard and his family moved from their home in Merrick, New York, to El Monte, California. He worked as a sales representative for a Los Angeles area company. Later he became a deputy clerk of the Superior Court in Los Angeles, a position from which he retired in 1978. In later years, he was also a restaurateur.
Tom Lockard had two daughters with his first wife Dorothea, and a third daughter with his second wife, singer Jinny Cole Osborn Lockard Janis of The Chordettes. The three daughters and Lockard's third wife, Marilyn Filkins Lockard, were his survivors when he passed away on September 3, 2006, in Eugene, Oregon.
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