Joyce Ann Thomas, 97, of Coloma, passed away Friday, Nov. 8, 2024 at her residence.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 10:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 22, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Watervliet. Burial of ashes will follow in St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in Watervliet. In lieu of flowers, please give to North Berrien Senior Center or St. Joseph Catholic Church. Those wishing to leave an online message of remembrance may do so at www.duffieldpastrick.com.
Joyce was born on Oct. 15, 1927 to Ralph and Frances (Kibler) Thomas in a home on Blue Star Highway. She attended school in Watervliet, graduating in 1944. She then enrolled at Western Michigan University and graduated in 1948 as a teacher in Business Education. Her first year of teaching was in Dowagiac where she met Andrew Moses Thomas and they were married on Sept. 10, 1949. They celebrated 70 years of marriage before his death in 2019.
Her husband was a student at UCLA and they moved to Westwood Village near the school. She became a secretary to the Dean of Students until their son Jeffrey Andrew was born on Nov. 14, 1950 in California. Soon after Andy’s graduation, they returned to Coloma. Their second son, John Michael Thomas, was born Oct. 13, 1953 in St. Joseph, MI. Soon after she began teaching at Watervliet High School, her alma mater. She transferred to Coloma High School for the rest of her teaching years and she found time to attain her master’s degree at WMU.
During high school and college Joyce became a National Baton Twirling Champion and she led both her high school and college bands. She was a member of MARSP, Sigma Tau Chi, and WMU Alumni. Her hobbies were collecting genealogy information on their families and keeping up with it using the computer, iPad, and iPhone technology dating back to 1989.
A son, Dr. Jeffrey Andrew Thomas died in 2002, but he made his parents proud with two grandchildren; Matthew (wife Jenny) Thomas, a helicopter Medical Nurse and Marya Thomas (husband Adam) Inman, an insurance executive, who live in Traverse City. Son John Michael (wife Susan) Thomas is CEO of Depatie Fluid Power in Kalamazoo. He and his wife presented them with three grandchildren; Ryan John (wife Noreen) Thomas, Manager of Depatie Fluid Power in Kalamazoo; Chiropractic Dr. Lindsay Sue Thomas (husband Kevin) Dodd of Naples, FL and Alysse Anne Thomas, a hospitality manager in southwest Michigan. They have seven great-grandchildren; Matthew’s son, Callan Thomas, Ryan’s children, Liam and Una Thomas, Lindsay’s children, Macy and Brooks James Dodd, and Marya’s children, Weller and Jackson Inman. She also has close relatives Judy (Ed) Messal of Evansville, IN, Charles (Sharon) Watts of Benton Harbor, and Bonnie (Scott) Kibler-DeJay of South Haven.
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