Stanley R. Thomas

He is preceded in death by his parents: Frank Hall Thomas and Hazel Hilton, his son Stanley Miguel Thomas and brothers: Charles Thomas and Frank Darwin Thomas.

Stanley attended East Technical High School(National Honors Society) and Graduated in 1953 (upper 10%). During this time, he loved playing pool, enjoyed jazz music, and would later moonlight as a DJ in his late teens. As a child, his greatest ambition was to be a professional driver.

He was married in 1956, to Sor Aida Maunez (Humacao, Puerto Rico) and Divorced in 1975.

Stanley eventually decided to enlist in the military at the age of 19. He was a veteran of the Air Force from 1954- 1975(Honorable Discharge), his final rank as Lieutenant Colonel. Stan was enlisted as a flying officer from 1954 to 1964, and was promoted from the lowest enlisted rank to Captain in six years. From 1964 to 1965, while in the Air Force, he attended Omaha University, where he graduated in the upper 5% of graduate school with a Master’s in Business Administration.

From 1965 to 1971, Stanley worked at Chief Systems Operations Headquarters, in Strategic Air Command (SAC), in Nebraska. He became a flying staff officer in Vietnam where he flew over 100 missions as a navigator, and supervised a staff of nine. He was also in charge of writing an exhaustive report on the explosive racial tensions of soldiers in Vietnam. After he returned to the States, Stan Thomas worked as a Division Chief in USAF Special Treatment Center in San Antonio in 1972, was promoted as an Executive officer as a top staff assistant to the commander in 1974, and became a Lieutenant Colonel in 1975. In Vietnam, Stan was exposed to Agent Orange and was subsequently declared as disabled. He dealt with such illnesses as lupus, and cancer, which slowly yet steadily increased through the remainder of his life.

After retiring, from 1975 to 1977, Stan drove his convertible with his two sons, throughout Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador. He lived for a year in San Miguel de Allende, where he studied Spanish and Art.

In the late 70s to the early 80s, Stan lived in Las Vegas and experimented with being a professional gambler, but realized that the reality did not match the thrill of his dream.

After recovering from the sudden death of his oldest son, Stan chose to travel extensively to Europe in 1983 with his younger son John for three months, where they visited France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Holland, and Denmark. He traveled again in the early 90’s to Brazil and Uruguay.

Although he contracted illnesses such as a brain tumor in the early 90’s and prostate cancer in the 2000’s, he managed to maintain a positive outlook, and was always passionately interested in fairness and equality. One thesis he wrote in Nebraska was regarding the cycle of generational poverty, and quietly gave to numerous charities throughout his life.

Stan read voraciously, loved golf and tennis, art, traveling, and writing. In one of his journals, he wrote, “Love is acquired, not by seeking it, but by giving it. We grow from love by showing that we care”

Stanley is survived by his son John Christopher Thomas, numerous nieces and nephews.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.neptunesociety.com/location/san-antonio-cremation for the Thomas family.