Born in Denison, Texas, in 1888, Tom L. Anderson was left deaf and physically disabled after a bout of scarlet fever at age 12. After several years out of school as he regained his mobility, he briefly attended the Colorado School for the Deaf and then went on to Gallaudet, graduating in 1912. He worked at a variety of jobs, including farming, magazine writing, and being a handyman, and married Anna Vaughn Johnson (’12), who he had met in college.

Anderson was finally hired as a manual training teacher at the Texas School for the Deaf, and while doing so, earned his master’s degree from Gallaudet in 1918. Anna Anderson died in the 1919 flu epidemic, and Anderson remarried to another Gallaudet graduate, Effie Wessen (’18), in 1920. In 1921, they were both hired as teachers at the Iowa School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs. There, Anderson became vocational principal, and was active in publishing The Vocational Teacher newsletter, as well as editing The Iowa Hawkeye. After almost 20 years at the Iowa School, the Andersons returned to Texas in 1940, where he became a vocational counselor and became known for finding aviation jobs for 400 deaf workers during World War II. His success in this position led to him being recruited to San Francisco, where he continued his vocational work while Effie taught at the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley.

He was elected president of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) from 1940-1946. He was also president of the Gallaudet College Alumni Association (GCAA) from 1936 to 1943. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Gallaudet College at the 75th anniversary celebration in 1939.

Tom L. Anderson retired in 1952, and passed away in 1966.