Avis de décès de Rev. -Virginia-C. Thomas - Nécrologie - MesAieux.com

REV. VIRGINIA C. THOMAS - BAKERSFIELD - The Rev. Virginia C. Thomas, one of the first women to be ordained a deacon of the Episcopal Church in America, died April 30, 2011, at the Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans. She was 93. After raising four children and extensively traveling the world with her husband, the late R. David Thomas, Jr., she enrolled in the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. She graduated in 1978 with a Master's of Arts in Religion and was ordained shortly thereafter. Following her ordination she organized the Dolphin Program in the Philadelphia area. Modeled on the close-knit behavior of these sea mammals, Dolphins are volunteers who call upon lonely people in nursing homes and become their one-to-one companions. The program spread nationwide during the following ten years before Rev. Thomas retired from it in 1988. The Thomas couple then moved to Vermont, building a home in rural Franklin County adjacent to their daughter Betsy and her growing family. Rev. Thomas was deacon of the local parish, St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Enosburg Falls. Until a month before her death she regularly preached sermons that were known for their good humor, sound theology and insightful observations of family and the world around her. Rev. Thomas was born in Utica, N.Y., the daughter of the late Daniel R. and Bessie O. (Cowles) Campbell. In 1935 she graduated from Richmond Hill High School in Queens, N.Y., where her father was a science teacher. She graduated from Cornell University in 1939, majoring in French, and embarked on her 68-year marriage the following year. She is survived by her children, Niel Thomas and partner, Hermine Baker, of Anchorage, AK, Duncan Thomas and wife, Nina, of La Canada, Calif., Betsy Hart and husband, Alan, of Bakersfield; her grand- children, Forrest Keelty and wife, Melissa, Paul Keelty and wife, Regan, Shannon Millington and husband, Brian, and Wilder, David and Dylan Thomas; greatgrandchildren, Logan, Dylan, Emma, and Noah Keelty; and many nieces and nephews. Besides her parents and husband, she was predeceased by her son, Andrew; and brothers, J. Duncan Campbell and wife, Helen, and Hallock Campbell and wife, Edie. Funeral services will be held May 21, 2011, at 10 a.m. at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, 323 Church St., Enosburg Falls, with The Rt. Reverend Thomas Clark Ely, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont, officiating. The urn will later be placed next to her husband's in the Garth of St. Asaph's Church in Bala Cynwyd, Pa. For those who wish, contributions in Rev. Thomas' memory may be made to the Vermont Food Bank, http://www.vtfoodbank.org/. Private messages of condolence may be sent to the family online through www.spearsfuneralhome. com