Timothy Mark Thomas

Tim was born on March 5, 1955 in Bedford, Indiana. He grew up mostly in Indiana, where he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank a Boy Scout can earn. He moved with his family to northern California during his high school years.

He attended the University of California at Berkeley on a full Navy Reserve Officer Training (NROTC) scholarship from 1973-1977, which was a difficult era to be in ROTC at U.C. Berkeley. He graduated on December 15, was commissioned into the Navy on December 16, and married Janice Owens on December 17, 1977. Janice and Tim were married 39 years.

Tim attended Naval flight training in Pensacola, Florida and Corpus Christi, Texas. He flew a P-3 Orion and served in squadrons VP-31 (as a student and later as an instructor), VP-50, and VP-47 at Moffett Field in northern California. He was deployed many times in service to the Navy, mostly to Japan.

He served in the Persian Gulf as the catapult officer, or “shooter”, on the USS Enterprise Aircraft Carrier from 1985-88.

He went on to serve as Officer-in-Charge, Patrol Wing One, on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean from 1991-1992.

Tim earned his Master’s Degree at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. He was transferred to “fly a desk” at the Naval Annex next to the Pentagon in 1994.

Tim retired from the Navy in 2002 with the rank of Commander. He was quickly picked up as a civilian with the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) which later became the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) in 2003. NGA delivers geospatial intelligence that provides a decisive advantage to policymakers, warfighters, intelligence professionals and first responders.

During his time at NGA, Tim spent many long days, nights, and weekends dedicating his time to serving our country at NGA. He served as the Deputy Chief of the Middle East-Africa Division during Iraqi Freedom, and was noted for excellent dedication and service. In 2008, Tim was awarded the Superior Civilian Service Medal for his dedication to NGA. At the time of Tim’s passing, he was serving as the Division Chief, Asia Integrated Strategy Division, specifically focused on issues in North Korea and China. He led over 40 NGA Analysts providing collection management support for the Pacific Region. Those who worked with him noted him as a leader, motivator, and a very influential person. His co-workers have expressed that no one ever took better care of his people.

Tim loved to hike the Sierra Nevada mountains and many trails in Northern Virginia. He was also an expert marksman, certified by the Navy.

Tim is survived by his parents, Phyllis and David Thomas of Punta Gorda, Florida; his brother, Greg, of Plano, Texas; his son, Jeremy, and Janice of Lorton, VA; his daughter, Ashley and a precious new 6-month-old grandson, Charlie, of Fredericksburg, VA.

He has many loving aunts and cousins in Indiana, California, Ohio, and Hawaii. He was very blessed to be able to go to the Thomas / Guthrie family reunion at Lake Maxinkuckee, Indiana last July.

A memorial service will be held at Christ United Methodist Church, 7600 Ox Road, Fairfax Station, VA on Saturday, October 28 at 11:00 a.m. A burial at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors will be conducted in the spring or summer of 2018. Details will follow at a later date.

The family requests, in lieu of flowers, that donations be made in Tim’s honor to The Wounded Warrior Project at woundedwarriorproject.org or the Navy Memorial Fund in Washington, D.C. at www.navymemorial.org.