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Obituary

An elephant collector and devoted dad, friend

THOMAS HARGRETT: 1929-2005. The former club owner received elephant toys and figures the rest of his life after running a popular night spot.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published May 6, 2005

WEST TAMPA - When Thomas Hargrett died April 20 at age 75, he left behind a wife, seven children and about 200 elephants.

During the 1970s, Mr. Hargrett owned a popular rhythm-and-blues night club in Chicago called the White Elephant. Friends and patrons would bring him all sorts of elephants, from stuffed dolls to small carvings.

Initially, he used the collection to decorate the club. But after the White Elephant closed, the elephants kept coming. Every Christmas and birthday resulted in a new piece.

"It was mostly the kids," daughter Janine Hargrett said. "He always had to buy the latest gadgets as soon as they came out, so we couldn't get him those as gifts. So we just gave him elephants.

"He had elephants made out of wood, plastic, ivory, fabric, anything. He had some with a parade of elephants hooked up tail to trunk. He probably had, I don't know, 200 of them."

Mr. Hargrett, the uncle of former state Sen. James Hargrett, grew up in Wauchula and moved with his family to Tallahassee, where his father studied at Florida A&M University.

He was a teenager when his family relocated again in the mid 1940s, this time to Chicago, where his father worked as an electrician. Mr. Hargrett graduated from high school and joined the Air Force.

After the service, he worked with his father and later went out on his own as an electrical contractor and opened the club.

He was working as a civilian electrician at the Great Lakes Naval Base and running the club at night when he met his future wife, a nurse and Navy officer.

"I'm a Tampa native. That was our connection at first, that we were both from Florida," Sandra Hargrett said. "We were casual friends at first, for about a year."

They married and moved to West Tampa after Mrs. Hargrett left the Navy.

Mr. Hargrett had five children from a previous marriage and had two more with his second wife.

An on-the-job injury left him unable to work. Mrs. Hargrett continued to work as a nurse, and Mr. Hargrett received disability payments.

But Mr. Hargrett believed in the value of work and wasn't the type to sit idly, his wife said. After his injury, he devoted himself to raising his children.

"We lived in West Tampa, but they were bused to Ballast Point Elementary," Mrs. Hargrett said.

"He'd take them to the bus every morning and pick them up at the end of the day, and drive them if it was raining. He'd be at the school for all their activities. And not just our own kids'. All the kids in the neighborhood, he'd be there for them."

Kids and adults alike responded to Mr. Hargrett's kindness and sense of humor. He made friends wherever he went and took pride in his devotion to people he cared about.

"He was very irreverent, but he was very loyal," his wife said. "Anybody he knew, he always looked after them, even the kids he got to know at the bus stop. He was a great dad and just a great person."

Mr. Hargrett is survived by his wife, sons Michael, Marcus, Melvin, Jason and John, daughters Meta and Janine, three sisters, a brother, 15 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

[Last modified May 5, 2005, 01:31:12]