Please join our family in celebrating the life of Thomas Louis Mehrtens, formerly of Yonkers, NY, who died after a brief illness on Sunday, April 23, 2017. Tom was born in 1928 to parents Louis Thomas Mehrtens and Rose Marie Michelin. Growing up in Yonkers, he attended Sacred Heart Elementary School, and Gorton High School where he was a record-setting left-handed pitcher with a high school career that led to his being "discovered" by a scout for the Brooklyn Dodgers. While he did not opt for a professional baseball career, he remained in Yonkers fostering his love for hunting, fishing and the great outdoors until he was drafted by the U.S. Army during the Korean conflict. A man of integrity and work ethic, he was promoted to Sergeant, training groups of men to fight for their nation, but was spared combat himself when the truce was declared and he was honorably discharged on September 17, 1952. Tom returned to Yonkers where he met and married Elizabeth Rose Condren, an LPN, and settled down to a career as a backhoe operator for Petrillo Contractors, retiring in 1990. Together they raised four children and Tom instilled in them his love for all things growing and the great outdoors. He was a beloved member of the Van Cortlandt Park Avenue and Carroll Street neighborhoods, always looking out for the kids and their families, lending a hand whenever needed. A deeply spiritual man, he regularly attended the Roman Catholic Church closest to wherever he was living, most recently attending and acting as altar server in St. Anthony's Church in Yonkers. He was always willing to help out at Church and to share a joke with anyone who he thought needed one. Tom was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth Rose who died in 1993. He is survived by his sister, Gladys Brennan of McLean, VA, son Edward, and daughters Patricia Debronsky, Maureen Mehrtens Lee and Betty Anne Mehrtens. He was grandfather to seven, and great grandfather to three; uncle, great uncle and cousin to many, and a friend to all. Family will receive visitors on Wednesday April 26, 2017 at Edwards-Dowdle Funeral Home on Ashford Avenue in Dobbs Ferry, NY between 3:00pm and 8:00pm. Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church at 1395 Nepperhan Avenue in Yonkers, NY at 10:00am on Thursday on April 27, 2017. Interment will immediately follow at St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx.