Jason Christopher Thomas

1971 - 2019

Jason Christopher Thomas

I swear I first fell in love with Jason Thomas the moment he walked into our sixth grade classroom. He was the slightly chubby farm boy with an out-of-date haircut and razor-sharp wit, gregarious laugh, remarkable academic and athletic prowess, and a Pied Piper ability to make people want to join him in anything. And he was kind. So kind. That he liked me back still makes something inside my stomach flutter. Our life together, which we built very intentionally, was an ongoing series of falling in love over and over again. It happened every time we hiked together (many, many miles), belted out words to our favorite songs (especially on long car rides), cooked meals together, brought three gorgeous babies into the world together, traveled together, and cared for each other and our children day after day.

Truth is, I never knew where I left off and Jason began and vice versa. People say we were made for each other and I believe it. I recently mentioned that I feel sorry for everyone who is not married to Jason Thomas. I know with 100% certainty that he loved our life, adored Hank, Sam, Eleanor, and me like nothing else and like no one else ever could. I know he desperately did not want to leave us and that was clear by his expression as he was placed in the ambulance yesterday morning unable to speak then from the pain.

Early yesterday morning, as we would begin the wind-down from our camping trip with the Gensler and Mitchell-Chablani families, Jason collapsed from what we now know was a bilateral pulmonary embolism. He lost responsiveness in transport to the hospital and, despite the efforts of many, never regained his breath.

We – our children and I – are shattered.

We had so many more memories we wanted to make together. And that was, in fact, the impetus for our first big trip of the summer – our epic trip out west. Inspired by the notion (and perhaps a bit of a panicked one) that one of our babies would soon be leaving our nest, on a beautiful snowy day in January we started a fire, popped open a bottle of wine and our laptops and began planning our summer trip. Our itinerary was ambitious and the trip a success in nearly every way (the late-night detour around Yosemite due to snowy roads was a little dicey!). I will forever be grateful that we made the trip and every other trip before that one. We started that drive in a rented RV with a stack of CDs we'd acquired in our three decades of dating (not counting the years before we graduated from high school). And I told the kiddos, "look, we know you tease us for some of our music taste – especially our love of "old" folk music - songs that tell stories and bring attention to righting social injustices. But these are the songs we fell in love to on our long drives back and forth from OU to Cincinnati and from Cincinnati to Toledo and then Pittsburgh to Toledo. We learned to harmonize by listening to these songs and we built our dreams for our life together in the meantime. And this vacation is among our dreams for our family so you'll just have to listen to these songs (and hopefully sing along) with that spirit in mind." I looked over to see Jason wiping streaming tears from his face. Then he grabbed my hand and started singing whatever track happened to be playing at that moment. He loved our life and so did I.

Our children will need support getting through this. Jason was an exemplary dad, engaged with every single facet of our children's upbringing. We were both so intent on that and know that we each and our children benefited from it. The void that Jason's death will leave in their lives is unfathomable.

Jason was an incredible partner. He supported and championed me without exception in every aspect of our lives. His love was unconditional. And, for all of the practicalities we'd figured as we balanced a full life of family and careers and volunteer activities, etc. we were also madly, madly in love. We were preparing for our 25th wedding anniversary on October 7, 2019 with excited anticipation.

And about Jason's teaching. He was one-of-a-kind, inspiring students to love science, to believe in themselves, to have fun learning, and to never stop growing. Jason loved teaching and, over the past three years, he filled the hallways at Maumee Valley with his gargantuan laugh. I suspect the absence of that will be deafening, most notably for Hank and Sam.

Thank you to all those who have reached out to our family and to those who have posted their condolences. Please know that it means a lot to us and we cherish every word. I offer a humble and perhaps beggy request: would you please share with my children and me every memory, funny story, and/or fond recollection you can think of about Jason? Send it to me by email or snail mail or simply post it. I want to devour those stories and share them with our children to foster strong, lasting memories of their beloved dad.

I'm struggling to imagine a forever without Jason. He was quite simply the love of my life and a dad like no other.

Jason C. Thomas, born on June 10, 1971 in Toledo, Ohio, died unexpectedly on August 5, 2019. He taught chemistry in Maumee Valley Country Day School's upper school for the past three years. Prior to that he taught high school science at both Toledo School for the Arts and his alma mater, St. Francis de Sales School. He also taught middle school at West Side Montessori. After attending Ohio University for a year, he earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Universities of Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Toledo. Jason is survived by his partner in everything and wife of nearly 25 years, Sally Gladwell, and their three children, Henry (Hank) Gladwell Thomas, Samuel (Sam) Gladwell Thomas, and Eleanor Gladwell Thomas, as well as his parents-in-law, Donna and Tony Gladwell; his dad and step-mother, Philip and Judy Thomas; brothers-in-law, Andy (Cindy Seffernick) Gladwell, and Tom Gladwell; and siblings, Dave Thomas, Jenny Thomas, Amy Sauer, Jill Thomas, and Laura Platz; nieces, nephews, and countless students and former students who credit him for teaching them a love of science.

A celebration of Jason's life will be held at 3:00 on Saturday, August 17 at Maumee Valley Country Day School, 1715 S. Reynolds Road, Toledo, Ohio. Parking will be available across Glendale Avenue with shuttles to the school. Following the ceremony, there will be food, fellowship, and opportunities to preserve your stories and recollections of Jason's life. We hope that all who loved Jason will join us.

In lieu of flowers please consider contributions to The Gladwell-Thomas Family Education Fund, care of Signature Bank. Coyle Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements. Please view and leave a condolence message at CoyleFuneralHome.com

www.coylefuneralhome.com