GREAT-GREAT-GRANDMOTHER TO 22

Former Fort Calhoun resident Marie Thomas, 105, of Blair, died Sunday, Sept. 5, 2010, in Blair.

Services were Wednesday, Sept. 8, at Sievers-Sprick Funeral Home in Fort Calhoun. Interment was in the Fort Calhoun Cemetery.

Marie Thomas was born July 6, 1905, in Washington County.

On Feb. 14, 1922, she married Clare Thomas in Tekamah.

Mrs. Thomas was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Omaha.

She is survived by a daughter, Leora (Lee) Jackson of Omaha; seven grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; and 22 great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Clare, in 1970; daughters, Lucille Stricklett, Ginny Lanouette; sisters, Clara Weeces, Eva Wilson, Myrtle Patterson; and brothers, Hans and Olaf Kaer.

Memorials are suggested to Trinity Lutheran Church or the charity of the donor’s choice.

Pilot-Tribune, Sept. 14, 2010

By Stephanie Ludwig

FORMER FORT CALHOUN RESIDENT, ONE OF COUNTY’S OLDEST, DIES

THOMAS: STAYED BUSY THROUGH HER LONG LIFE

If there was ever a person who kept busy, it was Marie Thomas.

The 105-0year-old woman, who died Sunday, Sept. 5, was one of the county’s oldest residents. Her family remembers her as an independent woman who worked very hard but liked to have a good time.

“She kept busy and was always working,” said Thomas’s daughter, Leora Jackson. “She was always on the go.”

Thomas was born July 6, 1905, in Washington County to Danish immigrant parents. She married Clare Thomas on Feb. 14, 1922, when she was only 16 years old. The couple had three daughters, Lucille, Leora and Jenny.

According to Jackson, Thomas wrote out a summary of her life several years before her death, saying, “I better write down a few things the girls won’t remember about my life.”

The Thomas family moved several times, all throughout Washington County, living in Nashville and eventually settling in Fort Calhoun.

Clare Thomas contracted rheumatic fever sometime during their marriage, forcing his wife to go to work to help support the family.

She worked at a meat market and butcher shop, then at a bomb factory in Omaha during World War II. When the factory closed, she worked for civil service, sending literature to soldiers. She also spent time at the Fort Crook Tool Co., the Snow Corp. making tractor umbrellas and Wilkinson Manufacturing in Fort Calhoun.

At one point, she even took in laundry from men working on the railroad, making $8 a week.

Clare Thomas died in 1970. Marie Thomas lived alone in Fort Calhoun, tending a huge yard of flowers and eventually moving into an apartment in 1984. Her daughter said she still kept busy, making and embroidering tea towels and pillowcases, and crocheting doilies that she sold.

“She always had to be busy with her hands. She didn’t like to sit down,” Jackson said.

Thomas’s youngest daughter, Jenny, and her husband looked after her, taking her many places. Jackson recalls Thomas visiting her and taking her shopping and for coffee. She never let her widowhood keep her from doing anything.

“When she kept busy like that, she went ahead with her life,” Jackson said.

Thomas’s granddaughter, Rosemary Davis, said her grandmother was an amazing cook who gave all of her grandchildren a handwritten cookbook with her recipes. She also remembers her grandmother’s fondness for a 5 o’clock cocktail.

“She loved to have people come in the door at 5 to have a cocktail, or a ‘highball’ with her,” Davis said. “She was a pretty amazing lady.”

Thomas eventually moved to Good Shepherd Lutheran Home in 2000. Even as she became frailer, she kept up her zest for life.

Jackson recalled a family dinner several years ago at Mr. C’s. As the waiter took drink orders, it became apparent that Thomas was the only one ordering an alcoholic beverage, which set the family laughing, because by then, Thomas was into her 90s.

“She said, ‘I had my drink and it sure tasted good,’” Jackson said. “She was just a nice person to be around.”

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD, Sept. 7, 2010

THOMAS, MARIE age 105

Fort Calhoun. Preceded in death by husband Clare Thomas, daughters Lucille Stricklett, Ginny Lanouette, sisters Clara Weeces, Eva Wilson, Myrtle Patterson, brothers Hans Kaer, Olaf Kaer.

Survived by daughter Leora (Lee) Jackson of Omaha, 7 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, 22 great-great-grandchildren.

VISITATION Tues. 4-8 pm with family receiving friends from 6-8 pm at funeral home.

FUNERAL SERVICE Wed. 10:30 am also at funeral home. Interment Fort Calhoun Cemetery. Memorials to Trinity Lutheran Church, 6340 N. 30th St., Omaha NE 68111 or charity of your choice.

SIEVERS-SPRICK, Ft. Calhoun, NE 402-468-5678