Maria Elisa Thomas

Maria Elisa “Lisa” Thomas was born on September 8, 1955 to the late Blossom Reaves Johnson and James Gorman Thomas. Lisa departed this life, after a brief, courageous fight with cancer on Thursday, August 17, 2023 at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

Over the course of her life, Maria Elisa Thomas has held many names and titles. She was the daughter born to Blossom and James on a fall day in September 1955. Her parents had the intention of naming their daughter in honor of her Aunt Eliza Mae, with the name Maria Eliza Thomas. However, as fate and a slip of the pen would have it, the birth certificate would read Maria Elisa Thomas. And thus her journey began. Upon realizing this snafu, Blossom and James quickly decided to keep the story under wraps and to go with the change…the family called her Lisa. Lisa and her older Brother Larry received their early childhood education in Washington DC attending St. Martin's Catholic School and Woodridge Elementary School before matriculation to Taft Junior High School. However, the siblings went forward on another path for high school. Lisa attended an all-girls Catholic High School where she was a skilled basketball player, while her brother continued his passion for cars as a mechanic at a vocational school. She graduated from Notre Dame High School in 1973 and was accepted into University of the District of Columbia (UDC) to play basketball. Lisa enjoyed sports and was an athlete throughout her school career and beyond, playing multiple sports including collegiate level basketball and minor league fast pitch softball for ‘The Dolls.’

During the bicentennial year of the United States, she gave birth to an absolute mold breaking phenomenon known as Tracey Octavia Thomas. Having this bundle of joy changed the trajectory of her life and she hung up her pre-WNBA dreams and entered into the trades in order to ensure their survival.

Lisa was a pioneer in the field of electrical work, being one of the few women to be accepted and successfully complete the IBEW apprenticeship program in the1980s. She began working in the construction industry until obtaining a position at the Washington Post in the industrial maintenance department in June 1980. During that time she worked and completed courses until she earned a journeyman license as an electrician. Lisa was one of two women who worked as an industrial electrician, and the only black woman in the position until her retirement in 2020. Her position was complex, working with everything from circuit breakers to motors to PLC (Programmable Logic Controls) for robots as the company transitioned into automation. She earned the respect and love of her peers through her skill, intelligence, and assertiveness. She maintained close connections with many of the members of the department earning the name “Sis” especially from her ‘brother’ from another mother, Demarco Bruce Bell, Sr.

Lisa became a grandmother in 2000 when Skyler Haile Cooper (Little Skyler) was born whom she affectionately called her little booboo. However, as fate would have it, Little Skyler thought that is what her name was and she became Boo-Boo. When her granddaughter Talia was born in 2004, she learned from her older brother the proper name for their grandmother…Boo-Boo.

Lisa enjoyed traveling and exploring the world, and it was during these travels that she obtained 2 other names. In fact, it was during her trip to Mexico and discovering the joys of Tequila that Lisa could finally appreciate her Catholic first name, Maria. When asked her name she began introducing herself as Maria to our Mexican brethren. During her most recent and life changing trip to Ghana, with her road dog Carolyn, she was renamed Yaa. Upon her return she promptly ordered us to call her Mama Yaa.

Lisa’s final name of Warrior Woman came during her last few months of courageously battling stage 4 cancer. She maintained her courage, humor, truth, intelligence, fire, and beauty of spirit as the disease raged in her body. She held onto her faith and journey with the creator until her last breath on a summer day of August 17th. During her lifetime Maria Elisa Thomas held many names and titles, but through them all she maintained a quiet, yet loud strength. She lived her life authentically and honestly with a pioneering spirit that allowed her to trail blaze a path that was riddled with challenges. Her warrior spirit pushed her through those challenges using courage, faith, compassion, and ability to laugh. Though her body is gone, she (with most of the names) will be remembered.

Lisa leaves to cherish her memory, her daughter, Tracey Cooper (Skyler); Her grandchildren, Skyler Cooper and Talia Cooper; Her brother, Larry Thomas (Lillian); Her sister, Thelma “Elaine” Johnson (Jackie); Her nephews, Eddie Bowman, Carl Bowman, Larry Thomas, Jr. (Tangier) and Leland Thomas (Danielle); Her nieces, Joyce Johnson and Leandra Thomas; and a host of grand nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.