Kenneth Gerald Thomas

Born on the farm in the District of Thunder Bay, Ontario, he jumped at the chance to travel to New Zealand to work as a logger. There he met his wife, Margaret, a Scottish lass also out to see the world, who worked in the dining hall of the camp. After a brief courtship, they married and soon after travelled to the UK where Ken met Margaret's family and they started their own with the birth of their first son, Bill. When Bill was six months old, they traveled to Canada, established a home on the farm amongst Ken's family, and had three more children.

Ken’s occupation as a Heavy Duty Mechanic/Heavy Equipment Operator brought the family from Ontario to Alberta in 1965 where he worked as a foreman on the building of what is now the Suncor plant in Fort McMurray. He continued this type of work throughout the province most of his career.

Ken enjoyed speaking publicly and writing prolifically. In 1970 he proudly started a Chartered Toastmasters Club with the IOF which continued for 50 years. He transitioned from pecking at his typewriter to adapting to a computer, and spent many hours creating stories and poems to share with others. He enjoyed writing about his early years growing up on a farm and self-published two books: In and Out the Farm Gate and Beyond the Farm Gate.

The travel bug that had bitten both Ken and Margaret led to many trips over the years: road trips, camping trips, travels back to New Zealand and the UK and many cruises as the years went by.

Ken is pre-deceased by his wife of 65 years, Margaret, and two older brothers, Alfred and Ron. He is survived by four children: Bill (Wendy), Rosemary (Randy), Bruce (Mary), Elizabeth (Richard), nine grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

Cremation has taken place and a memorial will be held on April 27th at 2:00 p.m. at Atria Retirement Community at Arbour Lake, 900 Arbour Lake Rd. NW Calgary.

In memory of Ken, donations may be made to The War Amps at https://www.waramps.ca/home/