Royalene Kay Murray Thomas

1944 ~ 2013
Royalene Kay Murray Thomas, a long-time resident of Salt Lake City, died on the evening of Wednesday, April 3rd at her home at Sunrise Senior Living in Holladay.
Born in 1944, the youngest child of Wayne and Ester Murray in Rawlins, Wyoming, Royalene grew up tagging along and chasing her elder brother Donald, whom she loved, admired and cherished throughout her life. While Wayne served on the Union Pacific railroad as a brakeman and Esther created elegant coiffures for the ladies of Rawlins, Royalene and Donald would get into various scrapes and shenigans together, riding or running around town as only two adventurous children in the 1950s could do.
An active member of the Camp Fire Girls and Jobs Daughters, Royalene moved to Salt Lake City after graduating from high school to enter the nursing program at St. Marks. On her own for the first time, Royalene celebrated by buying her own stylish Chevy Barracuda. She and her girlfriends could often be found spinning around town and through Liberty Park, where she first met Kent Edward Thomas, the love of her life, who convinced her to stop and talk with him by telling her she had a flat tire (she didn't).
Kent and Royalene married, and Royalene became an immediate mom to Kent's two young daughters, Melodie Jean (Jacobsen) and Shellie Dee (Biesele), from his previous marriage.
Royalene started her nursing career at St. Marks, and took on the unenviable task of orchestrating the move of the hospital from 4th North to its current location on 39th South - a task she did not treasure, but completed with great skill and aplomb, earning her accolades from the hospital staff, administrators and patients. Soon after, Kent and Royalene welcomed two more daughters, May Lynn (Harris) and Jody Kay (Mattena) into the family.
Shortly after May's birth, Kent's employer, Ajax Presses, decided to move to Cincinnati, Ohio. Rather than follow Ajax into the Midwest, Kent decided to open up his own business selling parts and machinery from their home to the dry cleaning industry. Royalene, though her work at St. Mark's, supported the family while Kent purchased inventory and started his ultimately successful venture into entrepreneurship. In kindergarten, when asked where her daddy worked, May correctly stated, "in my parent's bedroom," - but that didn't last for long.
Kent Thomas, Inc., the business both Kent and Royalene founded, became a very successful and well recognized establishment on 23rd East - successful enough that even though Royalene had since attended Westminster College to obtain her BSN in Nursing, she decided to dedicate herself full time to taking care of the business end of operations. This enabled her to also spend more time with her family - sewing intricate and beautiful dance costumes for May and Jody (and all of their dance classmates, too) with her best friend JoAnn Voris, and to serve as President of the Board of the Utah Campfire Council for years while her daughters were members.
One of Royalene's great enjoyments was to travel, and the family made many trips to Lake Powell to vacation every summer. A born organizer, Royalene would spend weeks leading up to the vacation cooking gourmet meals from the cookbooks she collected while at nursing conferences to freeze and share with her friends and family on the houseboat.
Kent and Royalene ultimately separated, and divorced after their youngest daughter went to college. Ready for a change of scenery, Royalene moved to New Mexico for a short time, soaking in the culture of Santa Fe and learning and finding out more about herself and her life.
Moving back to Salt Lake after Kent's death, Royalene reconnected with her daughters and her grandchildren (CJ, BreAnne, Michael, Cameron, Lexi, Austin, Kay Lynn, Barbara, Haley and Kent). Her greatest joy was to see them, and her face would light up at the sound of "I love you, Grandma Royal!"
First diagnosed with and then battling Alzheimer's disease, Royalene moved her home to Sunrise Senior Living - a place that became her refuge and provided her with great friends and caregivers for the final few years of her life. Royalene's daughter Jody became her primary caregiver and tenderly cared for her until the moment of passing.
Royalene will be remembered at Sunrise for her many walks, and most recently for dancing and laughing when her nurses. Trina, would come into her room to laughingly say "time for your Fosamax and acidophilus!" which Royalene thought sounded very funny and Trina thought sounded like Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street.
During the months before her passing, Royalene loved to smile and to laugh with visiting friends and family - many times forgetting exactly why everyone was laughing so hard…. and then laughing because she had forgotten.
The evening Royalene left this world, she said goodbye to her loved ones and to Corrine, the amazing hospice nurse from Alpha Home Health, pointed towards the next room and said, "I want to go there." And then she was gone.
Royalene was adamant that her friends and family use the occasion of her passing to remember and celebrate her life, rather than her death. In lieu of a formal funeral service, she requested that all those who knew and loved her be invited to share both a special memory and a toast in her honor. In that spirit, a lovely reception to honor and remember her life has been scheduled for Sunday, April 14th at Log Haven, at 6451 East Millcreek Canyon Road, between 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Instead of sending flowers, Royalene wished to ask that you hug a friend and then donate to Alzheimer's Research, if you are able.