Tom Yoe was born on October 8, 1917 in Chanute, Kansas. He attended elementary, middle, and high school in nearby Independence. He came to the University of Kansas in 1937 to study journalism. He was an alum of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Delta, which is the Lawrence Chapter of a journalism fraternity. He was also an alum of Phi Kappa Psi social fraternity, of which he later became treasurer. While at the University, he worked on the Jayhawker yearbook.

Yoe graduated in 1939 with a Bachelor's degree in journalism and later moved to work for a publishing company in Saint Louis, Missouri. While in Saint Louis, Yoe edited "Club Management". Yoe was drafted in the Second World War as a second lieutenant in the infantry. He was an instructor at various training centers and infantry schools until 1946, when he returned to Saint Louis.

Yoe moved to Lawrence later that year and became director of the news bureau at the University of Kansas, a position he held until 1972. In 1972, with consolidation of multiple departments into Public Relations, he became assistant to the director of the department. He held the position full-time until 1985 when he began to work as a part-time consultant. He advised the Jayhawker yearbook throughout his forty years in public relations with KU.

Yoe married Ella Mary Harmon on October 5, 1946 and they had five children: four sons James, Jonathan Thomas Junior, Daniel, and Robert; and a daughter, Catherine. Yoe was an active member of Plymouth Congregational Church. He was also an active supporter of the local Boy Scouts of America chapter and a board member of the local Red Cross chapter. He died April 25, 1986.