My late friend Don Prentice who passed last year about this time at 90, had both Tom and Jack Oar in his high school classes in Rockford Illinois. I would have to guess when that might have been but I'd put it in the early 60s.
Don talked often about the "rockford boys". They were a wild bunch of outdoors enthusiasts. Jack and Tom Oar were among that group. There was a guy they nicknamed Bowie Knife Weaver. Those guys would have knife fights and do some outrageous stuff. The one thing they did that amazed me. One guy would climb a tree near the top then let his friends chop it down! They loved the excitement of riding it to the ground.
Don was pretty sketchy about Tom and Jack moving West. He didn't say when but that Tom moved to the Yaak River area, a remote area of NW Montana. According to Don, Tom was very involved in the mountain man rendezvous events and made things to sell there. Tom's wife was known for her elaborate porcupine quillwork.
Jack Oar became a well known falconer and lived near Howe in the Little Lost River Valley.
https://missoulian.com/news/state-a...69ab140-4c86-11e3-9af4-0019bb2963f4.htmlI think I saw the two of them in one episode of the Mountain men TV show.
FYI Don was also a falconer and rock climber. He and Yvon Chouinard used to climb together. Yvon, the founder of Patagonia, mentions Don in his autobiography.
I have never met Tom. Would love to meet him and talk to him about our late mutual friend Don.