William Laurence Thomas (1888-1939)

THOMAS, RASMUSSON

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 12/24/2021 at 21:42:14

From Nevada Evening Journal February 7, 1939 (page 4)

Final Rites Held Monday Afternoon for Will Thomas

Funeral rites for William L. Thomas which were held at Central Presbyterian church Monday afternoon brought a group of relatives and friends that filled that church to its utmost capacity.

Besides the large number of relatives, old neighbors and friends, the Masonic and Eastern Star lodges of Zearing, of which the deceased was an active member, attended in a body. Following the service which were in charge of Rev. Jos. M. Kennedy, pastor of the McCallsburg Presbyterian church in which the deceased was a trustee as well as Central Presbyterian church, the Masonic Committal service was given by T. G. Lundy of the Zearing Lodge No. 469, as he stood beside the flower banked casket.

Music for the service was by Mrs. Armstrong on the organ, there being no vocal numbers.

The large number of people present at the service, the banks of flowers and other features of the service gave wonderful testimony of the high regard in which this young man was held in the community in which he had spent his entire life.

Burial was in the family lot in the Nevada cemetery with a continuation of the Masonic committal rites.

William Laurence Thomas, son of Franklin P. and Achsah Thomas, was born on October 26, 1888, he being the fifth in a family of eight children. The family home was then on a farm near Zearing but they soon moved to McCallsburg where Will attended the public school and grew to manhood.

At 21 years of age he started to carry on his own farm operations. Some four years later, on December 3, 1913, he was married to Miss Pearl E. Rasmusson who joined him in the farm life. They established their home on a farm southeast of Zearing. After farming for several years, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas moved with their family to Nevada where Will engaged in the garage business. After a few years in Nevada they again returned to farming and for the last ten years they have lived on a farm southeast of McCallsburg.

Will received early training in a Christian home and when a lad in the early teens he united with the McCallsburg Presbyterian church. When living in other communities he took his church membership with him, finding near his home a place of worship. His church letter of membership was returned to the McCallsburg church on April 27, 1932. He was elected by the congregation to serve as a trustee in 1936. Since that time he has conscientiously fulfilled his duties in that office. Will was faithful in his obligations to the church and he let his religious convictions find expression in his daily life.

Mr. Thomas was also a member of the Masonic lodge being affiliated with Zearing lodge number 469. He also was a member of Eastern Star, holding in that order the office of Associate Patron.

Mr. Thomas found his greatest satisfactions in his home and family life. He enjoyed life on the farm and proved himself a good farmer, a kindly neighbor and helpful citizen. His family ties were very strong. He was devoted to his wife and their two children, Theron and Margaret. He kept a brotherly interest in his brothers and sisters and has been most kind and thoughtful toward his mother.

Surviving members of the immediate family are his wife, and two children. His mother, Mrs. Achsah Thomas, and three brothers, Walter, Charles and Herman, and one sister, Hannah. There are many other relatives an a great many friends. Will Thomas will be remembered as a man of kindly disposition, friendly, sympathetic and helpful.

Death came, with little warning, on the morning of February 3 due to complications following a surgical operation. Being but fifty years of age and a man of strong vitality, his family and friends had not considered his illness to be of such serious significance.