Marianne Thomas

Marianne was born in Lincoln, Nebraska but at a very young age moved to Beverly Hills California therefore, she considered herself to be a native Californian. She attended Beverly Hills High School, UCLA, and Cal Berkeley. While in college she was a member of Pi Beta Phi Fraternity.

While volunteering at the Assistance League during World War II she met her future husband, George. They were married on the 18th of January 1946. Marianne convinced George, an army brat, not to follow in his fathers and brothers footsteps in the Regular Army because she did not want to move around a lot. During their life together, they lived all over the world. Starting in Venezuela, then to Newport Beach California, then to Santa Maria, then to Costa Rica, and then five years in Holland, then back to Dallas, then to Rome followed by London, finally returning to Houston in 1967.

Her travelling then really began. She accompanied George all over the world to countries where his operations were located. They took numerous ocean cruises, including two on the Merriweather Post sailing yacht the “Sea Cloud.” They sailed on all of the river boat cruise in Europe. They made four trans-Atlantic crossings on Holland American Cruise lines as well as three trips on the Concorde. They also took Abercrombie and Kent’s safaris in Egypt, Kenya and South Africa. They were fortunate enough to take a special tour of the Andes by car, bus and boat from Chile to Argentina with a stop in Iguazu Falls. They belonged to “People to People Golf” which allowed them to play golf and meet people all over the world. Her “bucket list” was almost full. She was in Pamplona for the “running of the bulls,” attended “Octoberfest” in Nuremberg, “Film Festival” in Cannes and skied in Lech, Austria at Christmas.

Marianne belonged to the River Oaks Country Club where she was an avid golfer. She even managed to shoot a hole in one at Sleepy Hollow golf course. She volunteered at Bayou Bend and at Blue Birds. She was active in the Pi Phi Alumnae association where she recently receiver her Diamond Arrow Award.

She is survived by her husband of 70 years, George; her daughter, Georganne; son, Greg and wife Rita; grandchildren, Nikki and husband Aldo, Jessica and husband Alberto, Stephanie and husband John, Anthony and wife Tylere, Michael and fiancée Ashley; and six great grandchildren, Emma, Matteo. Cira, Emilia, Eugenia and, Federico.

The family wishes to thank Angelica Castillo, Sigly Bentunes and Myra Chapa for the care they gave Marianne in her later years.

A memorial service celebrating her life is to be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon on Thursday, the 3rd of November, at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 717 Sage Road in Houston. Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family in the adjacent Bagby Parish Hall.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions in her name be directed to The First Tee of Greater Houston, 5810 Wilson Rd., Suite #112, Humble, TX, 77396; or to Texas Children’s Hospital, Office of Development, Ste. 5214, PO Box 300630, Houston, TX, 77230-0630.