Alice Olivia Thomas

Alice Olivia (Schnecker) Thomas, age 87, died peacefully on Monday, June 30, 2025. Alice was born on September 21, 1937 in Wenatchee, Washington to Fredrick George Schnecker and Hattie Ruth (Saetre) Schnecker. After graduating from high school in Wenatchee, Alice attended Washington State College (now Washington State University). It was at WSC that she met and married Robert Thomas in 1957 in Wenatchee, WA. After WSC, Alice and Bob spent the summer on Tyee Forest Service Lookout in the Wenatchee National Forest and then traveled to Fort Sam Houston, Texas where Bob began his military service in the medical service corps. Alice and Bob later settled in Marin County where Alice completed her BA in Psychology at Dominican College (now Dominican University of California). Alice's career was spent in the mental health community. After volunteering at the Marin Suicide Prevention Center, she began a long career at Buckelew Programs, a nonprofit provider of comprehensive behavioral health services, helping those with mental health & addiction challenges. During her years in the Bay Area, Alice sang alto with the Winifred Baker Chorale and enjoyed family vacations backpacking in the Sierras and Grand Tetons. She and Bob enjoyed traveling to Europe and the UK on concert tours with the chorale. Not long before she retired, she and Bob, along with Bob's brother and sister in-law, Jerry and Lou Ann Thomas, bought property and a cabin in the Upper Yaak River Valley, MT. In 2004, the couple moved to Spokane to be nearer to their Montana retreat. Alice sang with both the Spokane Symphony Chorale and Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist choir for many years. Alice was preceded death by Bob in December 2017 and is survived by her son Brian Thomas and wife Natasha of Yreka, CA, daughter Jocelyn (Thomas) Desotell and husband, Kevin of Ashburn, VA, grandsons Alex and Tony Thomas of Yreka, and Nicholas Desotell of Ashburn. Alice's ashes will be interred in the Upper Yaak River Valley in late summer 2026. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory can be made to Buckelew Programs of San Rafael, CA, the Yaak Valley Forest Council, (yaakvalley.org), or the charity of your choice.