Brian Lee Thomas Jr.

With broken hearts we share with you our pains, our son Brian “Buddy” Thomas, Jr. (36) and Melinda “Mindy” Mayfield (32), his fiancée, left their Earthly Lives for their Eternal Lives early Sunday morning, July 12, 2026 in Mountain View, Arkansas. They were together with their fur babies, Spencer, Luna, and Winnie. A fire stole their lives but not their souls.

Buddy and Mindy were residing in Jonesboro, Arkansas in “Granny’s” home, a place of love and comfort in Buddy’s life filled with memories of Granny.

As a cave guide at Blanchard Springs Cavern, Buddy was staying in Mountain View on the days of his tours. On his days off, he drove home to Mindy and their fur babies in Jonesboro. When Buddy’s vehicle broke down and he couldn’t get home, they were heart broken. Mindy and their fur babies traveled to Mountain View to be with Buddy. Mindy and Buddy, each the love of the other’s life.

June 25, 2026, Mindy and Buddy celebrated 4 years of adventures since their first date. Together was their favorite place.

No one ever imagined they wouldn’t be going home. They wouldn’t be united in Matrimony. Their desire was a simple Catholic wedding, a Nuptial Mass. The reception celebration would include a potluck atmosphere in an outdoor setting. For us, Buddy’s parents, we can only create their wedding day in our imagination. We also mourn.

Buddy’s life is a tapestry interwoven with the treads of each person he passed, each person he adventured beside, each person he loves. You are a thread in Buddy’s tapestry. You are loved by Buddy and his tapestry continues through you. We want to show you portions of this tapestry. Our dream is you can see where your thread weaves with Buddy’s. May you notice the threads Buddy has woven in your tapestry and the patterns Buddy continues to form with you.

Buddy’s Tapestry Begins

We are Buddy’s parents, Rose Mary and Brian Thomas, Sr. His siblings are Elizabeth Thomas Robertson, Patrick Michael Thomas, Maria Thomas, and John Paul “JP” Thomas. You probably know of their adventures with Buddy.

Elizabeth and Buddy “grew up as twins” in our eyes. From his birth they ventured together, “Elizabeth and Buddy”. Even today and miles apart, new adventures and passions call to them both.

Buddy and Patrick played together differently than Buddy and Elizabeth. We said the boys rolled around on the floor like pigs. Patrick was side by side with Elizabeth and Buddy in adventures.

When little sister Maria was born, her siblings let her live the life of a princess. Buddy lovingly called her Monkey. With his “Adventures Await” vision, he wanted Maria to have adventures near and far with them.

Buddy was almost 19 and in college when we brought him home for the birth of JP. JP and Buddy’s passions intertwine as brothers with shared passions and wickedly funny humor, despite JP not growing up with Buddy in our house.

His family continues to grow through his nieces and nephews. Elizabeth and Dan’s children, Benjamin, Lily, Connor, Anastasia, Warren, and William. Patrick and Taylor’s children, Patrick Jr “PJ”, Layne, and Miles.

“BUDDY”

Buddy was born October 18, 1989 very unexpectedly on a crisp day in Heilbronn, West Germany, in the state Baden-Württemberg. The Berlin Wall was falling at the time of his birth.

He was born early, with that came care in the Kinderklinik for a short time. Once home he never wanted out of Mom’s arms. He must have felt safe enough around nine months to stay on the floor and begin to crawl. He still preferred Mom’s arms. Mom called Brian Jr. by the name “Buddy” because he was her “buddy”, always in her arms.

Soon his neighbors living by him at Wharton Barracks in Heilbronn began calling him “Buddy”. The phone calls and letters from family in Arkansas called him “Buddy”.

Today you call him Buddy and he truly is your buddy, your brother, your friend. Most people don’t know he is Brian Lee Thomas, Jr.

Mindy called him Brian, a deeper expression in the oneness of their hearts. “Mindy and Brian”.

Buddy calls himself “a collector’s item”. He says, “Stamped on the bottom of my foot is ‘Made in West Germany’.” His birth country no longer exists.

Our little family physically hammered away bits of “The Wall” from its East Berlin side. Dad held Baby Buddy’s little hands and moved his arms so Buddy physically was a participant to “tear down that wall”.

You: Yarn and Embellishments

You are present with Buddy and us in this Tapestry of Buddy. You are the threads and yarn intertwined with Buddy. You are the embellishments sewn on the tapestry adding love, joy, sorrow and grief that Buddy’s Tapestry holds.

Family Threads

Granny is Mary Beth Sodon Oswald, with whom Buddy humbly walked beside in her time of sickness and death. He brought her Holy Communion when she was unable to attend Mass. His Aunt Carolyn Oswald Gray was his companion as they supported Granny together.

No place was more special to Buddy than being with Granny. Buddy and his siblings’ tradition was staying with Granny for New Year’s Eve and celebrating with party hats, horns, steamers and banners.

Granny’s summer tradition was Silver Dollar City with Buddy, his siblings, and Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Steve. As Granny’s family grew, she included her great-grandchildren and her grandchildren-in-law in these summer adventures.

Buddy never met his Grandpa Richard Oswald but he spoke in his heart and spirit to him. He made “hot tamales” for Granny from Grandpa’s recipe.

Buddy’s tapestry of Catholic Tradition, Blessed Sacrament, and Jonesboro stems from Grandpa Richard. Buddy’s great-great-grandparents voyaged from Germany to the US bringing their Catholic faith and settling in Jonesboro near the Benedictine sisters from Switzerland.

Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Steve share with Buddy a love of fur babies, nature, outdoor adventures and photography creating matching threads in Buddy’s tapestry.

As a storyteller, Buddy marveled at the stories of Grandma and Grandpa Thomas, Janet and Tommy Thomas. He loved their tales of adventures featuring his dad as a little boy. Their words and pictures revealed portions of Buddy’s ancestral tapestry. Buddy’s dad, Brian, moved to Germany as an infant due to Buddy’s Grandpa Thomas’s life as an Army soldier, then to Poland, Nepal, and Taiwan. Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Glen, along with their families, add more beauty within Buddy’s tapestry.

Buddy’s threads thicken more with Grandma and Grandpa through their shared passions, the family life with Army adventures, fur babies, nature, and photography.

Little Cousins Jason, Jessica, Elizabeth, and Buddy as the youngest, raced through all the rooms at Grandma and Grandpa’s home in Tuckerman, looping over and over with happy voices. Together with Grandma and Grandpa, they explored Grandpa’s garden, swung on the swings he built, and nourished each of their tapestries.

To Mindy and Buddy, Grandma and Grandpa Thomas are also Mindy’s grandparents. Buddy proposed to Mindy on New Years 2024 in front of his grandparent’s Christmas tree. He had waited for the time and place that called to him, New Years Day with Grandma and Grandpa was the winner.

They had planned that their wedding would be at St. Michael in Cherokee Village so Grandma and Grandpa didn’t need to travel.

Ancestral Tapestry

Before he was two-months old, Buddy embarked on his first journey, a ride down the autobahn. Destination: Innernzell, West Germany. Buddy’s great-great-grandparents, Benjamin and Marie Oswald, immigrated from this Bavarian village. Buddy’s ancestral tapestry is tying together with his personal tapestry.

Two-year old sister Elizabeth, Mama with tiny Buddy in her arms, Daddy, and Grandma Mary Beth Oswald, who traveled from Jonesboro, walked slowly in a Catholic church that possibly was once our ancestors’ church. Tombstones in the cemetery read, “Oswald”.

We Pray with You, O Holy Child of God

At two and a half months we brought tiny Buddy on his first visit to the United States. Our destination, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Jonesboro. You welcomed Brian Lee Thomas, Jr. at his Baptism, January 6, 1990, Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord.

The same church his great-great-grandparents had chosen as their home after arriving in America. Chosen specifically because the Olivetan Benedictine Sisters at Holy Angels Convent were serving the people of Jonesboro.

European Threads

Back home in Heilbronn, his adventures in international travel continued. Up the Eiffel Tower, around Stonehenge, supporting hands bracing him to stand in giant wooden shoes, and rolling with big sister, Elizabeth, in their double stroller through the terraced vineyards of Heilbronn was infant explorer, Buddy.

Red, White, and Blue “Homemade” Tapestry

Leaving Germany at age 3, home was now Fayetteville, North Carolina. Buddy’s childhood with his best friend and sister, Elizabeth, nourished his love of books, history, science, and nature. At home, they acted out stories while dressed in costume.

As a preschooler, Buddy was in his first theatrical play as a blue bird and Elizabeth as a white rabbit in “Snow White” through a university theater department. Next, they were in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” with the Fayetteville Community Theater.

Fayetteville nourished Buddy and Elizabeth with cultural events at a young age. At Pow Wows they entered the circle for the Round Dance, the communal dance of unity for all to join. A local workshop for children allowed them their first steps making a stop-motion video.

You saw him at St. Patrick where he crawled under the pew and imagined a farm. When it was time to move to Arkansas, you saw the little crosses Buddy traced with his finger in the carpet each Sunday. After Mass, as we prayed for St. Patrick’s intersession in finding a new home, Buddy’s prayers were expressed beyond words, through his finger across the carpet tracing crosses.

Fast Forward: Highland Games of NC

In recent times, Buddy was reminiscing with Mindy about the Scottish Highland games our family experienced. Living a large part of her life in North Carolina, Mindy also had an interest in Highland games. Together they marveled that maybe they had attended the same games, only years apart.

Mississippi River Delta

You were there when we looked at one home in Helena, Arkansas specifically because the address was St. Patrick Street which happened to link with St. Michael Street. It was the perfect home in a secluded wooded area for us.

We moved to Helena, Arkansas, when Buddy was 5. Helena sits in the Delta along the Mississippi River. This little town was filled with opportunities for Buddy and Elizabeth, pottery, ballet, tap, gymnastic, T-ball, soccer, more community plays, a great church community at St. Mary, and Scouting. Across the river and heading North, we spent much time at the Memphis Zoo, enjoying all the animals and the zoo’s programs under their education department.

Age 6 brought Buddy his first brother, Patrick, named in honor of St. Patrick’s intercessions for our new home.

Buddy’s first art awards were won in Helena. For the King Biscuit Blues Festival, his art was selected as one design on T-shirts, plus a $100 bill. A little oval shaped biscuit fashioned as a king was drawn in blue. His quote was “We all mix together”. The judges said his quote was exactly what the festival represents.

Buddy wanted a “cowboy bed”. He found a rustic style bed at the local furniture store and handed his $100 bill to the sales man. Grandma and Grandpa Thomas gave him a cowboy blanket with his name engraved. Years later that bed would become Patrick’s and now it’s youngest brother JP’s bed. Granny made him a cowboy shirt and neckerchief.

Buddy entered another art contest as part of Wal-Mart and McDonald promoting a new line of McKids clothing. His colorful, simply drawn clown was printed and sold on T-shirts throughout Wal-Mart stores.

Buddy and Dad were flown to Chicago for a photo shoot of Buddy in one of the new shorts and shirt set from McKids. Visiting the top of “Sears Tower” was a highlight for Buddy. His photo appeared in the Wal-Mart nationwide flyers and on the cardboard displays over clothing.

His winnings included entry for our family and Granny to Six-Flags. We added a bonus visit to the Space Center in Houston. A souvenir picture of Buddy, Granny, and all of us “floating in space” hangs in “Buddy’s room” at Granny’s.

You read in the “Helena World” articles of Buddy winning two art contest and various stories of his Cub Scout friends.

You witnessed his First Holy Communion at St. Mary in Helena. He and Elizabeth were altar servers that you saw week after week. At Christmas Eve Mass, you heard “Little Drummer Boy” Buddy play Mom’s snare drum before the Nativity set.

Mabelvale and Little Rock

In October before the dreaded Y2K, the frightening year 2000, we moved to Mabelvale near Little Rock.

Little sister Maria was born when Buddy was 14. Buddy delighted in reading to her. They share common interests in books, movies, and adventure.

You wove your thread with Buddy at his Confirmation at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock and heard him called his confirmation name, Juan Diego. You saw Elizabeth, Buddy, and Patrick together as altar servers at the Cathedral, including many funeral Masses. Buddy stood with Maria for her Confirmation, St. Francis as her confirmation saint.

Threads of 198

You camped with him and floated with him in Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Explorers. With you as his companions, he earned the highest rank in Scouting, the Rank of Eagle Scout. In leading his Eagle Project, you helped create a flower bed for residents of the family style home at Our House. Pack and Troop 198 with Mabelvale United Methodist Church brought a multitude of threads into the tapestry of Buddy’s.

Please wear what you feel connects you with Buddy and Mindy.

We invite you to imagine spending time with Mindy and Buddy

wearing what makes your heart shimmer.

Knowing Buddy and Mindy’s hearts, we ask you to consider as your gift to them an act of love, kindness, or service. This act might be for someone else, or it might be for yourself. Smile at someone you pass. Walk barefoot in the grass. Snuggle your fur babies. Lift someone’s spirit. Pray for others. Marvel at creation. Leave a gift in a food basket, little pantry, or little library. Be a gift to another.

A funeral mass will be held at Cathedral of St. Andrew's on Saturday August 1, 2026 at 10:00 AM with a visitation and rosary starting at 9:00 AM. Burial will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery in Jonesboro, Arkansas at 2:30 PM