He was living with his parents at the death of his mother. At the age of 15, he became acquainted with a riverboat captain and talked about seeing the world. He worked four years on the river, saved his money, and in 1890, he went to St. Louis and took a course in telegraphy. His first job was as a telegrapher for the Texas and Pacific Railroad at Waskom, a small sawmill town, near Marshall, Texas in 1891. After three years, he was transferred to Monahan in 1895. After six months, he was fired for disobeying an order, so he wandered around for a year arriving back in New Orleans. In June 1896, Tandy Casey went to the general superintendent of the T&P in Dallas and asked for a second chance. He made an impression and on 1 July 1896, he was sent to Pecos as a telegrapher for the Texas and Pacific. At the time, Pecos was a wild town with seven saloons that were open day and night. Tandy Casey installed the first telephone switchboard in Pecos in 1900. He partnered with E.L. Collings in the telephone business. The system and office were located upstairs over the Post Office. Telephone lines were strung along the barbed wire fences to keep from erecting telephone poles. Late in 1903, Tandy Y. Casey married the niece of John Y. Leavell, Mrs. Clyde Obitz, got religion, joined the Baptist church, and quit the liquor business. Tandy Casey was the manager of the Pecos Mercantile business and manager of the Higginbotham-Bartlett Lumber Company for many years. The Pecos Mercantile business sold "everything from the cradle to the grave." The company was formed on 15 June 1904. Tandy Y. Casey was treasurer of the company when it began. From 1904 to 1908, Mr. Casey ran a drug store and an ice cream parlor. He resigned from the Pecos Mercantile in 1921 to become vice president and general manager of the Dallas Transfer and Terminal Warehouse company. The Casey family left Pecos and went to Dallas on 30 September 1921. Mr. Casey stayed in Dallas for four years and then moved to Littlefield where he spent a year with the Higginbotham - Bartlett Lumber Company. He moved back to Pecos in 1927 to assume management of the Higginbotham Bartlett Lumber Company. In 1907, he and his wife built a house on 523 S. Hickory which was one of the showplaces of its time. Tandy Casey enlisted for the World War I draft but never served. Amelia Earheart was a friend of the Casey's and visited them in their home on Hickory. They lived in the home until their deaths. Mr. Casey was a stockholder in the company that built the first ice and electric plant in Pecos. He organized the first mobile passenger line from Pecos to Fort Stockton and for a time held the mail contract between these two towns. He served as president of the Chamber of Commerce a number of times, was a deacon and dedicated member of the Baptist Church, a charter member of the Rotary Club, and always helped in any civic project. His two greatest interests were transportation and communication.

Survivors: wife; one daughter - Mrs. Rowen Hudson, one grandson - Harlan R. Hudson, Jr.