01 · The cowboy
At home in the saddle
Tom loved being a cowboy. The hat is one of the first things his family pictures when they tell stories about him.
November 4 · In remembrance
Remembering Tom Purvis
Tom Purvis was sheriff of Mobile County for twenty years. He also performed in Mardi Gras parades, stood up on a horse to make people laugh, and once reached barehanded into a pit full of rattlesnakes. And through it all, Luly was his whole world.
Santa Cruz, Bolivia · Where their story began
Luly was his whole world.
Tom went to Bolivia to work in the oil fields. In Santa Cruz he met Luly. They married on April 29, 1961, and built a life together that carried Bolivia with them to Mobile.
His family remembers how he looked after Luly from the day they met through his last breath. In Mobile, they helped members of the Bolivian community together. Tom later served as Bolivia’s honorary consul, carrying into public life a connection that had begun decades earlier in Santa Cruz.
As remembered by his family
Tom in a cowboy hat
Every now and then Tom would stand up on a horse just to make people laugh. His family still laughs telling it.
02 · Mardi Gras
Out on the parade route
When Mardi Gras came around, Tom joined the show. He performed in the parades, right out there where Mobile came to celebrate.
03 · The rattlesnake pit
A thousand rattlers
His family remembers a pit said to hold a thousand rattlers. Tom stepped in, let them surround him, grabbed one barehanded, and milked it for the crowd. The family recalls that the proceeds went toward making antivenom.
From the family’s recollections
A Mississippi boy with a world of stories
Tom was a Mississippi boy who had to make his own way early. He was on his own young, and the way his family tells it, he lied about his age to get into the Navy. He enlisted at sixteen and served four years, during the Korean War.
Tom went a long way from Mississippi. His family remembers letters he received from Bahrain, from a man who enjoyed his company and would later become king.
The family scrapbook
Family Album
Browse shared photos and clippings
A place for the pictures and newspaper clippings Luly chooses to share, and for the stories she remembers when she turns them over.
Tom & Luly
Bolivia, Mobile, and family life.
Out and About
Cowboy days, Mardi Gras, and adventures with Tom.
From the Clipping Box
Newspaper stories, campaign keepsakes, and photographs from his years as sheriff.
For friends and family
Guest Book
What do you remember about Tom?
People knew Tom in Mobile, in Bolivia, and in places his family may never have heard about. This is a place for those stories, big or small. Where did you meet him? What do you still remember?
Follow the years
From Bolivia to Mobile
Follow the rope through the years, or choose a milestone below.
- 1935
- Thomas Joe Purvis was born on November 4 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Family obituary
- 1961
- Tom and Luly married on April 29. Their story together began in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Tom and Luly’s story
- 1974–75
- Elected Mobile County sheriff in 1974 and took office in 1975. University of South Alabama
- 1980–81
- Served as president of the Alabama Sheriffs Association. He also served as president of the Alabama Peace Officers Association. Sheriffs Association roster · Congressional Record
- 1984
- Served on Mobile County’s inaugural 911 board. Mobile County 911
- 1993
- A federal directory listed Clifford Conklin as the sheriff’s department’s information-systems contact and described the department’s computerized records. Federal directory
- 1994
- Congressman Sonny Callahan honored Purvis in Congress and credited him with creating the Junior Deputy Program. Read the tribute, pp. 4142–4143
- 1998
- Received federal recognition as Bolivia’s honorary consul in Mobile. U.S. Department of State
The historical archive
Read the record
The full dossier includes the biography, the federal prosecution that ended in Purvis’s acquittal, the civil cases, and the sources behind each account. It keeps the family’s recollections alongside the public record and identifies files that still need to be located.
Read the dossier Download editable dossierNovember 4
In memory of Tom Purvis
With love from the family and friends who keep his stories alive.