Richard Thomas

1929 - 2012

Capt. Richard (Dick) Terry Thomas

Capt. Richard (Dick) Terry Thomas, U.S. Navy retired, died Sept. 5, 2012. He was born May 23, 1929, in Chamberlain, S.D., and graduated from Custer High School in Custer, S.D., in 1947. He graduated from the Naval Reserve program at the University of Nebraska in 1951 and was commissioned an ensign.

During 28 years in the Navy, he served as communications officer on the USS Antietam and executive officer on the USS Lexington. He was commanding officer of the USS Camden, of Patrol Squadron Five in Jacksonville, and of Ellyson Field in Pensacola.

He served on the USS Princeton in 1951 and 1952, during the Korean War. He attended flight training in Pensacola and earned his aviator's wings in March 1954. As a pilot, he was stationed in Kodiak, Alaska; San Diego, Calif.; and Patuxent River, Md. He also spent three years as a flight instructor in Milton. He attended post-graduate school in Monterey, Calif., in 1966, and earned a master's in financial management. From 1967 to 1969, he served with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, D.C., and was assigned to the State Department for the final year as liaison to Secretary of State Dean Rusk. He served in Vietnamese waters on the USS Camden in 1972 and 1973. After retirement in 1978, he served 15 years as a Panama Canal Pilot, accumulating 1,677 shipboard transits across the Isthmus of Panama.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Marian Jean Roberts Thomas, who managed 21 Navy moves and traveled, by car with the family, what was estimated as the equivalent of eight times around the circumference of the Earth. Other survivors include his brother and sister-in-law, Robert and Ginny Thomas of St. Helens, Ore.; his children, Kathy Thomas of Boone N.C., Jean Quisenberry, John Thomas and Janet Thomas, all of Pensacola; and two grandchildren, Anna (Quisenberry) Boomer, wife of Air Force Lt. Kyle Boomer of Columbia, S.C., and Robert Quisenberry, who is serving on the USS Greeneville, a submarine homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

No formal services are scheduled at his request. The family will hold a celebration-of-life ceremony at a later date. His ashes are to be scattered in the Gulf of Mexico, where many pleasant hours were spent working, fishing and boating.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to charity.

SHIPMATES! Like you, I have seen the Northern Lights from Alaska and Iceland. I have been awed by the lava flows from Kilauea in Hawaii, Curtsey in Iceland and Mount Etna in Sicily; entertained by the grandeur of Fujiyama, Mount Whitney, the Alps and South American peaks; and amazed by the sea snakes south of Singapore. I am grateful for tarpon in Panama, billfish in Cabo San Lucas, salmon at the mouth of the Columbia River and red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico. I look forward to the wonders of this last cruise! SHIPMATES! I thank the Lord, my family and the United States Navy for the opportunities afforded me. God bless America.

Trahan Family Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.



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