Charles Franklin Thomas

An avid fan of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers since the mid-1940s, Chuck enjoyed watching their games on tv until his very last days. He regretted never making it in person to Ebbets Field, but he did fit in many pilgrimages to Dodger Stadium. Go, Blue!

Chuck graduated from Wilbur Wright High School in Dayton in 1954, along with his then-girlfriend Nancy Pearson. They were married from July 1958 until Nancy’s death in October 2004 and were devoted parents to their two daughters. In later years they eagerly welcomed sons-in-law and adored their grandchildren, and Chuck got to enjoy great-grandchildren as well. Thomas family life featured massive Christmas trees, breakfast cookouts, and always plenty of books.

In preparation for his first career, Chuck graduated from Tri State College, an engineering school, in 1957. Over the next three decades, he worked as a manufacturing engineer for Chrysler Airtemp, Belden Wire & Cable, and Vernay Labs.

Chuck & Nancy discovered Unitarianism in the late 1950s at the First Unitarian Church of Dayton, becoming active as lay leaders there and then in a small Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Richmond, Indiana. Eventually realizing that he found volunteer service to local congregations more fulfilling than his work as an engineer, Chuck decided to become a minister. He graduated from Earlham School of Religion in 1976, and served the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) over the years in a number of capacities from circuit rider to interim minister to district board member.

Rev. Chuck Thomas was ordained by First Unitarian Church of Dayton in 1984. He served as minister at First Church until 1998, and at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Lima, Ohio, from 1990 to 2014. Until his retirement, he also preached occasionally from other pulpits and was an on-call chaplain at Dayton’s Children’s Medical Center. Chuck enjoyed performing weddings, and did the honors for his daughters and his elder granddaughter, along with many other couples.

Chuck was notably smart, practical, and cheerful; he tried every day to make at least one person laugh. He probably didn’t actually invent the “Dad joke,” but he certainly perfected that art form. His daughters, in turn, both became quite accomplished at rolling their eyes.

Chuck was predeceased by his wife Nancy Thomas and his sister Joyce Landis. He is survived by his daughters and sons-in-law, Lorella & Todd Hess and Linda & Glen Hemberger; three grandchildren and their spouses, Megan & Félicien, Allison & Dave, and Philip & Emma; and four great-grandchildren, Précilia, Rocklyn, Kemnebi, and Zayira.

If you would like to make a donation in memory of Chuck, his family recommends:

• The UUA’s Rev. Chuck and Nancy Thomas Scholarship Fund

Checks can be sent to the UUA, Stewardship & Development, 24 Farnsworth Street, Boston, MA 02210 with Thomas Scholarship in the memo line; or

• The Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation, www.dodgers.com/give

A Celebration of Life will be held at 3:00pm August 23rd at Chalice UU Fellowship of the Conejo Valley, 3331 Old Conejo Rd., Thousand Oaks.

The registration link below will allow you to register for the service with your preferred email address. A service link will then be sent to that email. This service link will be active 10 minutes prior to the service. As an added benefit, you’ll be sent a recording of the service after it is done streaming.

https://streamyard.com/watch/TDgDb7ZyHHbZ

In the meantime, please enjoy a banana split and/or a baseball game in Chuck’s honor.