Gerald Francis Thomas

Gerald Francis Thomas, passed away peacefully in Arlington, Texas on July 29, 2023.

Gerald was born in Dallas, Texas on January 31, 1934 to Francis Summer Thomas and Elizabeth Whitford Thomas. He graduated from high school in Smackover, Arkansas in 1951. Gerald was also a longtime member of the Church of Christ.

He attended Southern Arkansas University where he was recognized as an Outstanding Student in 1953. He went on to graduate in 1955 from Southern State College in Magnolia, Arkansas with a Bachelor of Science Degree with a concentration in Chemistry and Math. He received a Graduate scholarship to the University of Oklahoma and went on to earn a Master of Science Degree in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Gerald went to work for Chance-Vought Aircraft in 1956 and worked there faithfully for 36 years until he retired in 1992. He was later asked to return as a consultant with LTV and stayed for another five years. Among other high-level projects, he specialized in working with high temperature resistant materials.

Gerald was multi-talented and had a variety of other interests and hobbies. In addition to being a lifetime member of the NRA, he was a Scout Master, an extra-class amateur radio operator, AA5PU, and a private instrument-rated pilot. Gerald especially enjoyed traveling…so much so that he visited all 50 states as well as the British Isles, Germany and Vietnam. He loved white water canoeing, having run the rapids in rivers from southern Missouri through western Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, the Hill Country of Texas and the canyons of the Rio Grande.

Gerald is survived by Betty Lou Kirk Thomas, his loving wife of 70 years; sons Kirk Thomas and his wife Grace and Kim Thomas and his wife Chong Suk; grandchildren Morgan Renshaw and her husband Seth, Darby Logan and her husband Paul, and Whitford Kirk and his wife, Carla; great-grandson, Milo Elum Thomas; and brothers Larry Perkins of Edgerton, WI, Daniel Perkins of Valley Stream, IL, and sister Margaret Perkins of West Virginia.