James Naughton Thomas

James (Jimmy) Naughton Thomas, 82, passed away at St. Vincent’s hospital on Monday, January 2 at 7:05pm. The funeral will take place on Friday, January 6, 2017 at 11:00am at Hardage-Giddens Funeral Home, 729 Edgewood Ave. S., Jacksonville FL 32205. Burial will follow at Riverside Memorial Park, 7242 Normandy Blvd., Jacksonville FL 32205. He was born to Glenn Thomas and Anna Florence Naughton Thomas on September 17, 1934 in Jacksonville, Florida. His mother died when he was a child, and he was raised by his father and stepmother, Myrtle Grady Thomas.

He graduated from St. Paul’s Catholic School and then served in Japan as a radio operator in the Securities Unit during the Korean War for two years. After his service, he worked as an underwriter and eventually as Vice President of Independent Fire Insurance Co., a subsidiary of Independent Life Insurance Co. for twenty years. He was invited to join and was an active member of Who’s Who in America as he was well respected in his field. He then went on to own Beaches Insurance Agency.

He is preceded in death by his brother, Francis (Frank) Thomas, and his sister Teresa Ann Phillips. He is survived by his wife of sixty-one years, Pattie Thomas; his children, Joy Ann Schultz and Clyde Louis Schultz, Walter Edward Thomas and Dorothy Frensley Thomas, and Dalton Merritt Thomas; his grandchildren Kyle James Thomas and Abigail Magdalena Thomas, Nicole Lee Thomas, Joshua Benjamin Thomas, and Jacqueline Kendra Schultz; and great-grandchild, Josiah James (J.J.) Thomas. He is also survived by his brother-in-law Clarence Eugene (Gene) Phillips Jr. and his sister-in-law Joan Thomas; and nieces and nephews, Lynn Phillips Gaines, Gene Phillips III, Carol Thomas Thomson, and Chris Thomas, as well as numerous additional relatives in the Thomas and Naughton families. He was beloved by family and friends and well respected among those he knew. Arrangements are under the care of Hardage-Giddens Edgewood, 729 Edgewood Ave. S., Jacksonville FL 32205.