Elizabeth Glaze Thomas

Elizabeth Glaze Thomas died peacefully at home on May 5, 2020, at the age of 96. She was born September 5, 1923, in Chattanooga, TN, to Carter C. Glaze and Mary Edgmon Glaze. In 1941 she received one of Hamilton County's top academic scholarships to the University of Chattanooga. During WWII the Tennessee Valley Authority recruited University of Chattanooga art students to do foreign mapping for the War Department, and Elizabeth became a cartographic draftsman. In 1944 she married her college sweetheart, ENS Dan Anderson Thomas, a submarine officer. During the war she and her husband lived in New London, CT, and San Diego, CA. After the war they moved to Nashville, TN, where Dan earned a Ph.D. in physics at Vanderbilt University.

In the early 1950s, Elizabeth was employed as a technical illustrator at the US Naval Ordnance Laboratory in the Washington, DC area. Upon moving to Florida in 1952, Elizabeth did free-lance commercial artwork for local advertising agencies. In the community, she served as President of the Rollins College Women’s Association, trustee of the Winter Park Public Library, and President of the Winter Park-Orlando League of Women Voters.

In 1963 the family moved to Jacksonville where her husband became Dean of the Faculty at Jacksonville University. At that point Elizabeth’s League involvement moved to the state level: she became First Vice President of the League of Women Voters of Florida and editor of The Florida Voter. She chaired the 10th Annual “Jacksonville Festival of the Arts.” She served on the board of the Jacksonville Arts Council and as President of the Jacksonville Symphony Guild (1974-1975). She was a member of the Jacksonville Watercolor Society, the Village Art Group, and the Travelers Club. A gracious hostess, Elizabeth opened her Jacksonville University campus home to both civic and faculty organizations. With her husband and family, she travelled the world (29 countries). Her favorite destinations were the Swiss Alps and the islands of Micronesia. Her watercolor landscapes, some of which appear in private and corporate collections, reflect her love of travelling abroad and exploring the Florida-Georgia wilderness.

Elizabeth was predeceased by her husband of 65 years and is survived by her daughter, Rebecca Lynn Thomas, of Jacksonville, with whom she made her home in recent years; her son, Roger Nelson Thomas, LCDR USN (Ret.) and daughter-in-law, Nancy Rhyne Thomas, Ph.D. of Jacksonville; her grandson, Kevin Rhyne Thomas, SFC FLARNG, of Middleburg, FL; her granddaughter and her husband, Bonnie Thomas Ochoa and Benjamin Anthony Ochoa, and two great-granddaughters, Aurora Valentina Ochoa and Electra Olinda Ochoa, all of Houston, TX.

Graveside services will be held at the family cemetery in east Tennessee at a later date. Memorials may be made to the Jacksonville University Library or to the Pediatric Community Hospice of NE Florida. Sign the Guestbook @ Jacksonville.com