Thomas A. Retallic was born in Straitsville, Perry County, Ohio on March 30, 1854. He was the son of Francis Retallic and Catherine Fielty. His father had been born in England and had come to America in 1850 settling in Zanesville, Ohio where he became a coal miner. Catherine was a native of Ireland. When the American Civil War began Francis enlisted in the 122nd Ohio Infantry. He was wounded and recovered but in July of 1864 he became sick with fever and died at City Point, Virginia.
Thomas’s early education was in the public schools in Ohio. At age sixteen he left his mother’s home in Lexington, Ohio and moved to Washington Courthouse, Ohio where he began to learn the trade of farming to support his mother. After about two years Thomas returned to Lexington where he became an apprentice learning how to cut stone and marble. After three years he moved to St Louis, Missouri for one year before moving north in the spring of 1877 and settling in Barry, Pike County, Illinois.
Thomas was an ambitious businessman. Not only was he the proprietor of the Barry Marble Works, but he also finished the Barry Hotel and established the Barry Real Estate Company and the Barry Cement Construction Company. He also served as the first superintendent of Park Lawn Cemetery. His marble company would make many of the monuments for Park Lawn.
He was a member of the Masonic Fraternity, and the Woodsman of America. He served as Mayor of Barry, town alderman, township trustee and started and served as president of the First National Bank of Barry. In 1899-1900 he represented his district in the Illinois General Assembly.
Thomas A. Retallic passed away on December 26, 1944. He was laid to rest in this beautiful cemetery that he helped lay out.