Edgar Thomas Jenn, III

Longtime West Columbia businessman and community leader, Tommy Jenn, passed away peacefully Friday, April 11, 2025, at The Reserve at First Colony in Sugar Land from natural causes. He was a fifth generation West Columbian who had been involved in the retail furniture business for nearly 50 years.

Born in Houston on February 20, 1955, Edgar Thomas Jenn III was the son of Edgar Thomas “E.T.” Jenn Jr. and Velma Jenn Voelkel. He was a 1973 graduate of Columbia High School who later attended the University of Texas in Austin. A National Merit Scholar as a high school student, Tommy’s academic excellence began in elementary and junior high school when he was the Brazoria County Spelling Bee champion in the statewide spelling bee competition in Houston three consecutive years. He finished third one year to nearly qualify for the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

Jenn’s Furniture was started in West Columbia in 1946 after World War II concluded with Major E.T. Jenn Jr. returning home from training pilots in the Army Air Corps to open his own business on South 17th Street. Tommy Jenn, his brother Billy, their mother, Velma Jenn Voelkel, and Billy’s wife Judy continued operating the family furniture business at its current location on East Brazos Avenue in West Columbia until its recent closing earlier this year. The business’s founder, E.T. Jenn Jr., passed away in 1974. Jenn’s Furniture was a thriving West Columbia business for 79 years.

Tommy Jenn is a direct descendant of Grimes County founder Jesse Grimes, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence who was the father of Albert Calvin Grimes, one of the Texas volunteers who died in the Battle of the Alamo at the age of 18 on March 6, 1836. Related to the Grimes family on his mother’s side, Tommy’s father’s ancestors first came to West Columbia from Denmark in 1848. Tommy’s great-great-grandfather Henry Jansen was a well-known West Columbia area furniture maker from Copenhagen, Denmark, who fought in the Civil War.

Named Man of the Year in 2013 by the West Columbia Chamber of Commerce, Tommy Jenn was recognized for his many years of community involvement with the Columbia Heritage Foundation and the Columbia Cemetery Association’s board of directors. Just out of college, he spent a couple years living in England where he worked at a pub and, after returning to West Columbia to join the family furniture business, found great joy in pursuing acting. Tommy took on challenging roles in several plays in the 1980s and 1990s with the Little Theater of Lake Jackson.

He was preceded in death by his parents, E.T. Jenn, Velma Jenn Voelkel and stepfather Curtis Voelkel.

Left to mourn his passing are Tommy’s brother, Billy Jenn and wife Judy; nieces Julie Bockelmann and husband Stephen, and Bethany Bailey and husband Scotty; grandniece Libby Bockelmann; and grandnephews Hayes Bockelmann and Beau Bailey.

Relatives and friends are invited to his viewing on Wednesday April 23, 2025 from 5-7 p.m. at C.T. Baker Funeral Home 634 S. Columbia Dr. West Columbia. His funeral service will be held on Thursday April 24th beginning at 2:00 p.m. at the Chapel of the funeral home.

A gathering of family and friends is scheduled to follow the funeral at 3 p.m. at Heritage Hall, 508 East Bernard Street in West Columbia.

The family expresses their gratitude to the nurses at The Reserve at First Colony in Sugar Land for their care of Tommy during his final days. 

Donations in Tommy Jenn’s memory may be made to the Columbia Heritage Foundation, P.O. Box 1013, West Columbia, TX 77486.

Condolences may be left for the family at www.ctbakerfuneral.com