Lois Evelyn (Reagan) Thomas

She came to work at the News-Sentinel in 1962 when she was a student at the University of Tennessee. She wrote the School Talk column and was a staff writer for what was then the Women’s News Department. She became a general assignment reporter for the city staff in 1964.

She covered almost every beat at the News-Sentinel, including education, urban affairs, federal and state courts and city government. She also served as a copy editor and was the first woman city editor.

She was named business editor in 1989 and became executive business editor in 1996. When she retired, she received numerous letters from people she had written about who praised her fairness and unbiased reporting.

She graduated from UT in 1964 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and also did graduate work in journalism and political science.

After retirement, she did freelance writing, including for the News-Sentinel.

She was a sixth-generation Reagan of the Seymour section of Sevier County. She grew up on a farm and sometimes wrote reminiscing columns about hog-killing time in the fall and accompanying her grandmother to Market House, which predated Market Square downtown, to sell eggs and butter.

She excelled at friendship. She made friends and kept them. She went through life with a group of friends she met in high school at Harrison Chilhowee Baptist Academy in Seymour who called themselves the Silly Seven.

She loved the outdoors and was a member of the Knoxville Ski and Outing Club for more than 50 years. She spent much of her retirement visiting national parks and hiking. She volunteered at the Sugarlands Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Glenn Thomas, her parents, Francis and John Reagan; and a cousin, Mike Mikles. She leaves “tiger daughter” Mary Rich of Maryville; cousins, Sylvia Greer of Chattanooga; Bill and Jennifer Greer of Chattanooga; Sara and Matt Richardson of Argyle, Texas; Jessie and Blake Thomas of Seymour; Lawson, Mabry, and Cady Thomas of Seymour; and Cody Mikles of Seymour.

A celebration of life will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Sept. 6 at the Recreation Hall at Big Ridge State Park in Maynardville. The family invites friends to share fond memories and sign the online guestbook at www.BerryHighlandSouth.com.