Henry Thomas

Henry Thomas, age 84, of San Bernardino, California transitioned from life to eternal life on March 20, 2022 in Texarkana, Texas. He was the eleventh of the twelve children born to the late Bremont Thomas and Easter Dunkins Thomas in Springridge, Louisiana, on March 12, 1938.

At the tender age of three, his mother whom he remembered loving so much, died, and their very stern father raised him and his younger sister Maggie.

Henry attended school in the Caddo Parish school system. At age seventeen, while in high school, his father died. Henry quit school to begin work as a clerk and truck driver at Mr. Hal M. Gatti’s store in Keithville, Louisiana. He desired a better job; however, during that time in Louisiana, “it was hard for a black man to get a good job”. In 1956 he traveled to Calexico, California to find a better job. He knew how to drive a truck, so he obtained a Chauffeurs License and became employed as a local truck driver.

In August of 1958, while living in Calexico, California, he married his childhood sweetheart Zenobia Lewis. They returned to Shreveport, Louisiana, where their three daughters Linda, Phyllis and Brenda were born. Henry worked at a Dairy Farm in Louisiana; but, he did not like working at the Dairy Farm. In 1963, he moved his family to Calexico, California, where he resumed work as a local truck driver. He enjoyed taking his young family fishing at the local canal and Salton Sea. Later he and Zenobia divorced, and he settled in San Bernardino, California.

Henry willed himself to triumph over his adversities in life. He was a hard-working man. Over the years of his employment, he worked as a store clerk, dairy farm worker, local truck driver, Norton AFB Officers Club cook, and stagehand at the San Bernardino Civic Light Opera Theatre, where he recalled meeting many famous people.

Henry was a minimalist before it became popular. He was very particular about his privacy, keeping his home clean, paying his bills on time, drinking Aquafina bottled water, eating a light healthy meal, refusing pharmaceutical medicine, holistic, persistent in learning about natural remedies, wearing his cap or hat, and playing his guitar. He had a profound sense of humor, and he was very hospitable when you came under the covering of his home.

Henry would say, “I fell in love with the California sunshine”; “Enjoy your life while you can”; “Folk need to mind their own business”; “You gotta do right by people”; “Once a man, twice a child”.

On June 4, 2019, and again on January 13, 2022, Henry confessed and received Jesus as his personal Savior. On January 12, 2022, he started to experience a sudden and rapid health decline, from his high blood pressure and Alzheimer’s disease, which caused him to need twenty-four hour care. His family moved him from his beloved San Bernardino home to a long term-care facility in Texarkana, which specialized in Alzheimer’s care.

Henry was preceded in death by his parents; his brothers Willie Thomas, Sanders Thomas, James Thomas, Sr. and A.B. Thomas, Sr.; and his sisters Ruthie Lee Jones, Mary Coleman, Lessie V. Simms, Ruby Blackshire, Annie Mae Thomas and Annie B. Thomas.

He is survived by his three daughters Linda Thomas, Mira Loma, CA, Phyllis Thomas (Marvin) Martin, Texarkana, AR, Brenda Thomas, Los Angeles, CA; 6 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; sister Maggie Whiting, Houston, TX; ex-wife Zenobia Thomas, Los Angeles, CA; nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to:

Texarkana Nursing Academy, 718 E. 5th St., Texarkana, AR 71854

In Memory of Henry Thomas