OBITUARY

Norman Robert Thomas

May 15, 1952–January 31, 2024

Norm was born to Robert Reeves Thomas and Anna Cecilia Thomas on May 15, 1952, in Colville, Wash.

Growing up in Coville, Wash., his parents taught him about baseball, fishing and the love of the outdoors.

He attended Aster Elementary School until 1962 when the family relocated to Dayton, Wash. He graduated from Dayton High School in 1970. During high school he was active in sports, including Football, Basketball, Baseball and Golf.

Upon graduation he was employed for summer work for the Green Giant pea and green bean harvest. In the fall of 1970, he enrolled at EWSC, now EWU, in Cheney, Wash. In the fall of 1971, he enrolled in Walla Walla Community College.

Spring of 1972 found him employed by Green Giant again, seeding pea fields then harvesting green beans in Post Falls, Idaho. He also worked in the wheat fields for local Dayton farmers.

He enrolled at Chapman College in Orange ,Calif. In the fall of 1973. Chapman was affiliated with World Campus Afloat and he spent a semester at sea. During this time, he visited sixteen ports in Asia, the South Pacific and Australia.

In 1974, Norm was hired by Columbia County Farm Bureau where he worked for nineteen years. In the fall of 1995, he enrolled in Walla Walla community College in its Turf Management Program. During that time, he worked at the Walla Walla Country Club and later at the Touchet Valley Golf Club in Dayton, Wash.

After he received his Bachelor of Science degree, he was hired at Oak Knoll Golf Club in West Salem, Ore., later he moved to The Dalles Golf Club in The Dalles, Ore. After eight years, he moved back to Dayton to work at the Touchet Valley Golf Club. He finished his work career working for the Columbia County Road Dept.

He enjoyed slow-pitch softball with the Farm Bureau team, looking for mushrooms, cutting firewood, Mariner baseball, WSU sports and picking huckleberries, which he learned at an early age from his parents. Fishing, steelhead, trout, crappie, and salmon, and hunted for deer, elk and upland birds continuing his love of the outdoors.

Norm is survived by his sister-in-law Robin Thomas; eldest nephew Andrew George Thomas, wife Joanna and great nephew Gavin of Maui, Hi.; Benjamin Thomas, wife Bethaney, great nephews; Oliver, Charlie, and twin sister Emma, of McCall, Idaho, and Mathew Lee Thomas of Clarkston, Wash. Also survived by numerous first cousins.

I will miss you all. In Lieu of a funeral, I wish all folks to donate to Tunnel to Towers to help others or St. Jude Children's Hospital.