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MEMORIAL ARTICLE
Published Assembly SP '59
Vernley Fred Thomas No.15432 Class of
1946 Died March 27, 1958, at St. Albans Naval Hospital, Long
Island, New York, aged 34 years. |
Captain Vernley Fred Thomas, U. S. Army, while stationed
at the Pentagon, Washington, D. C., was highly esteemed by the
pastor and members of Forestville Baptist Church, Forestville,
Maryland, for his genuine Christian experience as well as his
active service as a member of this church.
Fred was a man of high principle, of unswerving character,
faithful and dependable in every task assigned to him.
He willingly and joyfully accepted opportunities to serve God,
his church, and his fellow-men. He was a devoted husband and
father to his wife and three sons and was highly respected as
a Christian gentleman by all who knew him. Not a person at the
church to this day has ever pointed a finger of criticism in
his direction. He worked well with others and was able to enlist
workers when lie was in a position of administrative leadership.
He was, during his stay here, among other things, the
superintendent of the Sunday School; the chairman of the survey
and planning committee, whose duty it was to lay the ground work
for a new church building; a member of the pastor's cabinet;
and a teacher of a boy's Sunday School class. Everyone, from
the youngest to the oldest, holds him in high esteem to this
day.
It is the hope of our church that we shall be able
in our new building, which he helped us plan, to have a church
library, which we will call the VERNLEY FRED THOMAS MEMORIAL
LIBRARY, in his blessed memory.
-Rev. Richard I. Sweetman, Pastor
I had the wonderful privilege
of sharing almost ten happy years with Fred. Even our last great
adventure together, a most unusual month in Heidelberg, with
illness, separation from each other, our families and friends,
the excitement and adjustments to a foreign land, separate return
flights, three small boys to care for, and later, as strangers
in a hospital in a large city, simply meant challenges to he
met and resolved. I was confident from the peace and security
surrounding us that all would soon be in order again, that Fred's
health would surely be restored. As complications developed
one after another, Fred's faith, courage, patience and trust
never faltered, but were magnified tremendously. My pride in
him knew no bounds. I know now that God's love and peace were
telling us that He was able and ready to care for each of us
whatever His will for us would be. He is able to keep that which
is committed to Him. In God's own time we will understand why
a life so promising, capable and full should end its earthly
venture so soon.
I am ever thankful for our three sons of whom Fred was
so proud. I pray that the Lord will definitely lead me as I guide
them, and with their father's example for inspiration, that they
will be ready to take their place among men such as he. That
they might one day say, as could he, "I have fought a good
fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith."
(2 Timothy 4:7.)
-His loving wife, Ramola "Rue" Thomas
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