Kermit B. Thomas

May 26, 1938 - September 1, 2017

Kermit Boyd Thomas died peacefully at his home southwest of Hagerstown, IN on September 1, 2017. He was born to John Jackson Thomas (b.1912, d.2000) and Elsa Rafert Thomas (b.1912, d.1947) on 26 May 1938 in Fortville, IN at the Ellingwood Clinic. Kermit graduated 14th in a class of 120 from Bedford High School in 1956. He was accepted at Indiana University and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Science in 1960. He earned a Master’s Degree in Science from Indiana University in 1969 which included extra work in Flat Pattern Design at the Art Institute of Chicago with Gracie Earle, a year’s study in English with Allegra Stewart at Butler University and a year of Painting at Earlham College with Elmira Kempton. He did his student teaching in 1960 at Hagerstown High School with Tom Jackson. He signed his first teaching contract in 1961 with the Greenfield City Schools and taught for two years at the local high school. When a new Elementary Art position opened up at the Nettle Creek School Corporation in 1963, he was accepted for the position and taught there for 36 years. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1998 and retired from teaching in 1999. He made several lifelong friends during his long tenure of teaching. He and his wife, Jane Dennis Thomas, were married 17 March 1973 at West River Friend’s Meeting. Their wedding gift to each other was a wonderful house built in 1858 on Bear Creek Road about three miles southwest of Hagerstown, where they lived until 2008 when Kermit’s health required a change. In 2007 they hired an Amish crew to build a new house closer to the road out in front of their first home. Kermit was a member of the Hagerstown Methodist Church where he sang in the choir for 45 years. He always had a strong interest in church music and had composed over 40 hymns and other church pieces. He also sang with the Earlham College choir for several years. He restored over 30 parlor reed organs. He was a member of Historic Hagerstown Museum, the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada, the Indiana Retired Teacher’s Association and The Reed and Pipe Organ Society. Kermit is survived by his wife, Jane; brother George Thomas (Carolyn) Plano, TX; stepmother Catherine Louise Thomas, age 101 years, Daytona, Beach, FL; stepbrothers David Lane Mathews (Betty), Fairbanks, AL; and, Michael Wayne Mathews, Baltimore, MD; nieces Lara Kathleen Ford (Randy), Dayton, OH; and, Amanda Lee Thompson, West Lafayette, IN. Many much-loved cousins from both sides of the family also survive. There will be a remembrance get-together at the Hagerstown Congregational Christian Church, UCC on Sunday, October 8, 2017 from 2-4 p.m. for family and friends. A brief memorial service will begin at 2:30 PM. Pastor Rick Alvey will officiate. Kermit’s body will be cremated and his ashes scattered on the graves of his parents with the following words, “Mom, Dad, with this action I reunite with you my being you so lovingly gave me the moment of my conception. I shall love you forever, your son Tommy.”