IN MEMORY
Apparently Ed Phillips has been trying to send this information on our Classmate James Thomas....we did not have Ed on our roster of Classmates so I will try to see if he wants to join the site. In the interim, here is the information provided by Ed for our information. May James Rest in Peace.
JAMES ALBERT THOMAS, JR. APRIL 17, 1948 -- JANUARY 30, 2016
James A. Thomas Jr., 67, of Port Vue, died Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016, at Family Hospice & Palliative Care. Born April 17, 1948, in Pittsburgh, he was a son of the late James A. and Doris (Hageter) Thomas, and the husband of Karen "Kay" (Morgo) Thomas. James was a retired draftsman, from the US Postal Service. He was a Navy veteran, having served during the Vietnam War, and a member of the Port Vue American Legion Post 447. He enjoyed building and flying model airplanes and was an avid outdoorsman. In addition to his wife, James is survived by a daughter-in-law, Rose Collier, of Baldwin; grandson, Aidan James Collier, of Baldwin; and niece, Shawnee (Jeffrey) Peterson, of Finleyville. James was also preceded in death by a son, Matthew Collier; and a brother, Robert.
Family and friends will be received from 2 p.m. until the hour of service at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016, at WILLIG FUNERAL HOME & CREMATORY. A blessing and burial will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies.
Jeff Coghill
Jim was a good friend throughout my high school years. I have wondered what happened to him. During summer months Jim and a bunch of other fellows would hang out at Howe School's baseball field and play a little ball as soon as we could scab together enough kids to cover the necessary positions. Jim was the Babe Ruth of all these games. He could really wallop the hide off of a baseball.
As is too common, we lost touch after graduation, but I always hoped he had a good life. Jim's father was a Pittsburgh policeman who was killed in the line of duty. I was glad to see that he had family and grandkids. Rest In Peace, friend.
Susan Devlin
Very Nice Comments, Jeff. As we age those memories to get bigger than life. I did not know James...I think I remember his face, but with almost 600 kids in our class.....can't dig them all out.....it is nice to relive nice thoughts of a classmate...something very special about our Lebo High!!! Thanks for staying in touch with us.
Wayne K. Parsons
Ed Phillips is a 1967 Lebo graduate and long time friend of Jim's.
After graduation, Jim joined the Navy and became a combat engineer in the Seabees. He served several tours in Vietnam before leaving the service and joining the post office. He loved motorcycles, oldies music and Seagrams VO.