Paul Thomas POSEY was born on December 2, 1951, in Key West, Florida, to Junius Otto POSEY (1916-1984) and Florinda Marie GOMES (1919-1964). 

He was the baby of 5 boys, and it was said his Mama was 42 when he was born and she cried hoping for a girl. This was her fifth child – all boys.

Tom had an older brother, Junius POSEY and three older half-brothers, William Joseph HAMILTON, Jr, Francis Salvador Theodore HAMILTON, Ernest Eugene HAMILTON. He lived in Key West until he was 12, then lived with his older brothers and their families, so he had nephews younger and close in age to him. 

BACK ROW: Francis, Ernie, and Bill Hamilton FRONT ROW: Junius, Florinda, and Tommy Posey

Tom married Joan Lynette EMERSON on Sept. 2, 1972 in Blairsville GA. They built a home in Murphy NC and had 4 daughters and a son: Florinda Michelle, Heather Marie, Crystal Joane, Sara Ruth, and Thomas ‘TJ’.

Tom was a contractor and built many homes and developed land around Murphy in Cherokee County. He was the owner and operator of Carolina Mountain Homes in Murphy.

He loved to camp, hike the mountains, and boat in the lakes.  He also loved to travel and took his family across the United States many times to the National Parks. He was very family oriented and would do anything for the family. 

Tom’s nieces recall, “Tommy was so full of life. Every time you saw him, he was smiling and laughing. We didn’t call him ‘Uncle Tom’; we always just called him ‘Tommy.’”

He died on October 22, 1991, in Murphy, North Carolina, at the age of 39, and was buried on family property in Cherokee County, North Carolina. He was 6 weeks away from being 40 when he passed. His one regret would be that he never got to Alaska. His memory lives on in his children and all who knew him.

“My father (Ernest HAMILTON) wrote songs all the time, and he and his brothers would get out the guitars and sing them. In one song called “Mormon Key,” Tom added the last stanza.” Karen Hamilton

Mormon Key

by Ernie Hamilton, Sr. and Tom Posey

Chorus

Glory, glory, hallelujah

Glory, glory, hallelujah

Glory, glory, hallelujah

We lived at Mormon Key

Way down in the Everglades the future meets the past

The present tells us that our lives are passing by too fast

The fame and fortune that we seek is just illusory

There’s a life at Mormon Key

We met the boys at Rod & Gun, and loaded up our gear

We went into the wilderness with our store of cheer

Our lives would never be the same, we tasked liberty

Out there on Mormon Key

Our travels took us ‘cross the shores and over oyster beds

Up the creeks and river mouths we sought this fish called Red

The gaters and the skeeters and the panthers came to see

Why we’d come to Mormon Key

Our feet have touched the bottom of the beach at Mormon Key

We have trampled through the mud and shells to gain our liberty

We have broke the chains that bound us to a life that wasn’t free

New life at Mormon Key

The coons, they came upon the camp and took away our stores

The fish, they never bit a thing we threw up near the shores

The sand that got into our soup, like everything, is free

That’s life at Mormon Key

So if you want to change your life, start to live today

Shuck the chains that bind you and come down here to stay

You’ll find that the climate’s great and that the livins free

Down here on Mormon Key

We polished up our image when we got back to town

Cause our telescope had told us there were ladies floatin round

we slowed in the parkin lot and as we turned to leave

drank a toast to Mormon Key