Okie Thomas

MRS. JAMES STEWART THOMAS Mrs. Okie Brown Thomas, 101, died Sunday, November 30, 2003 at her residence on Cheyenne Trail. Funeral services will be conducted Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. at Oakes & Nichols with Brother Mike Green officiating. Burial will be in the Rose Hill Cemetery. The family will visit with friends after 12:00 Noon Tuesday at the funeral home. The Giles County native was born December 31, 1901 to her late parents, John Thomas Brown and Susan Ida Keltner Brown, in the Brown family home just north of Waco. The family moved to Lynnville soon thereafter and she made her home there until graduating from Jones High School in 1920. She furthered her studies of the piano at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, later teaching piano in Kentucky and Tennessee, including a brief stint at Freed-Hardeman College. In August of 1928 she married the late James Stewart Thomas and settled in Columbia. They moved to Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1945 and remained there until 1949, moving to Lewisburg. While living there, she was associated with Murrey's Dress Shop. Upon Mr. Thomas' retirement from the National Life & Accident Insurance Company in 1964, they moved to Belfast. In 1972, they decided to relocate to Columbia to be nearer to family. Mr. Thomas died December 9, 1984. Throughout her life, Mrs. Thomas followed the example of her mother in devotion to Christianity. She was a faithful member of the church since baptism as a teenager and passed this example to her children and grandchildren. She was a member of the North View Church of Christ. Survivors include a daughter, Mary Anne Thomas Smith of Meridianville, Alabama, who was married to the late Edgar E. Smith;a daughter-in-law, Elizabeth "Ann" Collins Thomas of Nashville, who was married to Mrs. Thomas' son, the late James "Jim" Stewart Thomas, Jr.; eight grandchildren, Jimmy (Ellen Sadler) Thomas, III, Alfred (Karen Knable) Thomas, Alan (Kim Waddy) Thomas, Eleanor Thomas McMahan, Eddie (Kathy Osteen) Smith, Bart (Pam Easley) Smith, Stewart (Cherie Bandy) Smith and Tim (Carmen Lipham) Smith;sixteen great-grandchildren, Stewart Thomas, IV, Louellen Thomas, Katy Thomas, Lauren Thomas, Katheryn Thomas, April Thomas, Kassie Thomas, Marissa Patton Smith, Alex Smith, Kelsey Smith, Jackson Smith, Madeline Smith, Timothy Smith, Matthew Smith, MaryBeth Smith and Emily Smith. Mrs. Thomas was the last surviving of nine siblings. Her eight brothers and sisters, in order of their birth are, Monroe Brown, Anne Brown Hardeman, Larimore Brown, Linda Brown Weatherly, Robert Brown, Lillian Brown Richardson, Joe Kidd Brown and Charlotte Brown Fitzgerald. Grandchildren will serve as pallbearers.