Roy D Thomas

Roy D. Thomas was born in Kansas on July 4, 1926 to Roy and Maude Thomas. He was the second to youngest of five children. He worked on the farm as a boy, riding his work horse to a one-room school in the winter. On Saturdays he would ride to town to charge the battery for the radio so he could listen to the Grand Ole Opry show that evening. While in town he would go to the matinee cowboy picture show.
He joined the Army during WWII. While serving in the Philippines he learned to operate heavy equipment, which he continued throughout his lifetime. His love of country music led him to "round up some guys" to form a band to pick and sing during off-duty times while stationed overseas.

After his discharge from the Army he headed West to Wyoming. He met a "little red-headed girl" in Cody. When he asked her to go to a picnic with him, she said he had to ask her Dad. Roy said that was one of the scariest things he ever had to do. Roy and Lurraine were married on February 12, 1949 in Cody, WY. Roy loved the mountains of Wyoming and hunted and fished with his father-in-law and brother-in-law Carl and Earl Sauerwein.

Roy operated heavy equipment throughout the Big Horn Basin. He had a keen eye and leveled many of the fields around Powell for farming, built locations for drilling rigs in Elk Basin and worked on various road construction jobs. Roy and Lurraine worked in Sunlight Basin before they had children. He ran the caterpillar building roads and Lurraine was the camp cook.

Roy owned and operated a farm on the Willwood from the mid 1970's until his retirement. During the winters he would work at the Powell Auction yard working with the livestock.

Coming from the flats of Kansas he loved the mountains of Wyoming never leaving the Valley. He lived in Cody, Powell, and Ralston with Lurraine until her death. Roy moved to the Powell Valley Care Center in December 2007.

He is survived by one daughter, Rosemary Barnes and her husband, Daniel Barnes of Albany, OR. Their children, Christopher Barnes, his wife Tiffany and Amanda Barnes of Portland, OR.

Son, James E. Thomas, preceded Roy in death. Grandsons, Stanley Thomas, Keith Thomas, and Jacob Thomas live in Casper, WY with their mother, Janet Chrichton and her husband, Archie Chrichton.
Roy is survived by his brother James R. Thomas of Seattle, WA and many nephews and nieces.
Funeral services will be held Monday February 9, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. at Thompson Funeral Home. Viewing will be one hour prior to services.
Burial will be in the Crown Hill Cemetery.