Aleyamma Thomas

Aleyamma Thomas (Ammal) was born on November 29, 1937 in Thiruvalla, India as the 3rd of 7 children to the late C.M. Daniel and Mariamma Daniel. She grew up in a very strict, traditional Jacobite family which taught her how to respect God and be disciplined in her Christian walk. Ammal completed her high school education in Thiruvalla and her nursing education in Jaipur. During these years, she was highly involved in various school activities such as women's basketball, women's ring tennis, dance, and theatrical drama in both Kerala and in Jaipur. She studied for and worked as a nurse in Jaipur for a total of eleven years.

Ammal got married to P.M. Thomas on December 28, 1969 in Thiruvalla. And soon after, they moved to Jaipur to begin their new life. In 1972, Ammal came to the United States and started a nursing career as a registered nurse that lasted almost 25 years, mostly at St. Johns Hospital in Queens, New York. One year later, her husband joined her in America. The couple had two children born in New York: Jessie Thomas and Bidhu Thomas. In the 1980's, three of her siblings and their families would also join them in the U. S..

Like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, a significant change happened in her Christian walk of faith. Ammal began reading gospel tracts given to her by a pastor of the Highland Church in Jamaica, New York. Subsequently, her spiritual eyes opened and she took a leap of faith and accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior, obeyed in biblical water baptism, and was later filled with the Holy Spirit with the gift of tongues. God would answer her prayers as she would lead her husband to the Pentecostal faith. Together, as a family, they worshiped at the New York Gospel Assembly Church in Richmond Hill, New York. Ammal started a ladies prayer meeting in her home which became instrumental in praying for the sick and especially standing in the gap for all of their teenage children.

In 1995, she was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent a seven-and-a-half hour surgery to remove a long tumor and large sections of her colon. Despite the doctor's strong advice to start chemotherapy or else risk dying within 3 months, she refused and trusted in God for the source of her healing. And despite the odds, and by the grace of God, the cancer never came back.

In 2010, after living in New York for 38 years, they left their close friends, beloved church members, and everything they had built together and relocated to Dallas to be closer to their children and help raise Bhaveena mol and spend time with their grandkids.

In 2015, the first subtle signs of dementia appeared. And as the years passed, the dementia progressed and would lead to her earthly departure on March 23, 2025 with her husband, children, grandchildren, extended family, friends and church members by her side in a sweet atmosphere of worship ushering her into the presence of God.

Ammal has temporarily left behind her husband, two children and her grandchildren. Although we are saddened by her departure, we thank God for the time we had with her, especially during her final week on hospice at home surrounded by prayer and worship. We are overjoyed that she is in the presence of her Savior whom she loved with every fiber of her being. And we are greatly consoled by the hope of being reunited with her one day.