James A. "Gene" Thomas died peacefully in Memphis, TN at the age of 81 on June 7, 2016. He is survived by his wife, Juanita; his children, Karen Andrews (Steve), Chuck Thomas (Leslie), Wendy Marks (Dan); his grandchildren, Taylor Hines (Josh), Jordan, Chase, Austin, Macy, Mackenzie, Colin, Maddie, Fisher, Emma and Wesley; his great granddaughter, Addison James; his sister, Peggy Hennis (Gene); his sister in law, Carol Hainsel (Mike) and many nieces and nephews whom he loved dearly. Gene was born in Meridian, MS on September 4, 1934 and married his high school sweetheart, Juanita Purvis. He graduated from Mississippi State University in 1962 with a degree in Electrical Engineering and received his master's degree in Technical Management from Florida State University in 1973. He and Juanita both joined NASA at Cape Canaveral in 1962. He worked on the early space programs: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo as a biomedical and communications systems engineer. He became a Shuttle program Project Engineer and later Director of all Shuttle Launch and Landing Operations. In this position, he served as NASA's Launch Director, including the tragic Challenger launch in 1986. He retired in 1997 as Deputy Director of the Kennedy Space Center. He was awarded many of NASA's leadership and equal opportunity medals during his career. Gene and Juanita were married for 59 years. He served in the Mississippi Air National Guard, was an avid reader and loved Sonic foot-long hot dogs. He loved the Lord and leaves a wonderful Christian legacy for his family. Gene's favorite Scripture was Romans 8:38-39, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." He was a loving husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather and was a member of Evangel Baptist Church.
A service will be held in Memphis at Evangel Baptist Church on Monday, June 20, 2016 at 11:00am. The family will receive visitors at the church at 10:00am. Another service will be held in Meridian, MS at Barham Family Funeral Home on Tuesday, June 21 at 2:00pm with burial following in Forest Lawn Cemetery. The family will receive visitors at 1:00pm. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to St. Jude Children's Hospital, Memphis, TN.
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