July 24, 1926 –  May 16, 2005 Thomas attended Leonard High School and radio school at Texas A&M. He served as a Radioman First Class aboard the USS El Dorado during WWII, being present during the Marine landings on Okinawa and Iwo Jima. He worked for the Santa Fe Railroad in Lubbock and later built the Ector Feed Mill. In 1967 he began working at the Ector Post Office, from which he retired as Post Master in 1998. He was a member of the Ector Masonic Lodge.