Lowell Marvin Thomas

Pre-deceased by his parents George and Ida, his wife Alice and son Cory. Survived by his siblings Gary, Joan, and Elwood. His children Craig, Tracy, Cathy and Don, his grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

Most often called Tom, when he enlisted in the Air Force, many of his French Air Force members could not pronounce Lowell. In the Air Force, he trained to be mechanic working on planes and vehicles. Soon after, he met and married Alice Hatton. Cory arrived in Trenton, Craig a few years later in Quebec. The four would make a cold winter’s journey to Tom’s final Air base posting in Comox. After a few years on Vancouver Island, a few different house moves, finally calling Courtenay home, Tracy, their last child, arrived. After retiring from the Air Force Tom found work with Macmillan Blodel. The family grew again with daughter-in-law Cathy. In addition, another move to Campbell River, the home they lived in the longest, and enjoyed the community and neighborhood. He would stay on as a heavy-duty mechanic and enjoyed his family time, then additions of grandchildren arrived Mike and Shawna. His biggest love was being a Papa, as only the best Dad’s get to be a grandfather. Don his son-in-law joined the Thomas family during this time. Two more grandchildren came along later Trevor and Megan, the fun continued as he, and Alice would be retired.

Having travelled across Canada, they were able to see many of their Air Force friends and enjoy more family time. Soon the great grandchildren started arriving. GG was Alice’s name from the great grandchildren and Geep’s for Great Grandpa. Judy, Myles, Owen, and Noah were big fans of Geep’s. He also had two bonus great grandchildren with Harley, Sadie and their Dad Stephen his newest Grandson in law. When Tom was able to road trip for visits or the kids would come to him, those were his brightest and happiest days. His brothers and children always made time for visits. His sister and nieces would send beautiful greeting cards; he kept everything as he enjoyed reading them often. His daily paper kept him busy with Sudoku. Tom was fortunate to visit with family at the Hatton reunion the summer of 2017. As well as a Thomas family luncheon with all of his siblings, brother and sister in laws.

Our family cannot begin to express the appreciation for the staff at Eden Gardens in Nanaimo. The Nurses, Care aids, Dr. Kerridge, support staff, program groups, the cleaning teams, and of course the cooks, and kitchen staff. All of them made Eden Gardens feel like home, comfortable, safe and supportive. Dad managed to live with dementia and make the best of everyday, and this was possible because of Eden Gardens. Thank you.