Robert E. Thomas

THOMAS, ROBERT E., passed away on December 2, 2013. Bob attended Valley High School where he played basketball, baseball, and also was on the boxing and wrestling teams. He won both the Outstanding Basketball Player Senior Award in 1950-1951 and the Flying Dutchman Award in 1951. He attend Western Kentucky State College and Murray State Teachers College, and graduated from the University of Louisville with a degree in Business Administration. From 1954-1957, Bob served in the United States Army and was stationed in Panama. After serving his country, he was employed by Louisville Gas & Electric in the purchasing department. Bob left LG&E for an opportunity at the Kentucky Association of Electrical Cooperatives where he was the Director of Purchasing and Transportation, a position from which he retired in 1997. Continuing his love of sports, Bob played corporate softball. He was recognized as the Most Valuable Player during the Herbold Memorial Softball Tournament in 1960. The following year, he and his teammates won the Slow Pitch Softball Industrial Championship in Toledo. They also won in Pittsburgh in 1962, Providence in 1963, Detroit in 1964, McAdenville in 1966, Jones Beach in 1967 and 1970, and Stratford in 1969. They won the Louisville Invitational in 1970 and the Bluegrass Invitational in 1964. After achieving success in softball, Bob enjoyed similar success with golf. He won First Place in the IBM Golf Tournament in 1967. He won the Midland Trail Golf Club Championship- Second Flight, in 1970 and 1971. In 1981, we won First Place in the United Utilities Supply Annual Golf event and he was runner up in the Gaddie Cup- Flight Tournament. In 1993, he won First Place at the ECHL golf scramble. Bob achieved 2, holes in one, and played the Augusta National Golf Course with a final score of 81, to the envy of many fellow golfers. Bob also met Arnold Palmer and was thrilled to have shaken his hand. In 1970, he was commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel by Governor Louie Nunn. Bob was offered a position at Brown Wood Preserving by his long time friend, Lowell Stanley, in 1999. He thoroughly enjoyed traveling to Illinois to see his business friends and clients. He often said that his friends at the electrical cooperatives kept him young. In addition to his love for sports, Bob had a passion for the outdoors, nature, and traveling. He enjoyed keeping his lawn manicured, maintaining his bird feeders, hiking through the North Carolina mountains, and sitting on the beach in Seabrook Island, South Carolina. Bob loved to dance and people gathered to watch he and his wife on the dance floor. He was a loving and caring husband to his wife, Connie, a wonderful father to his daughters, and loved his grandchildren immensely. Bob was a loyal friend and confidant, never met a stranger, and made many friends through the years in both business and social circles. He remained close to his childhood friends, Bud Bunch, Charles Ploetner, John Hunt, and Les Loyless, whom he played golf with weekly. Bob was a joy to be with, and he loved to joke and tease his friends and loved ones. His smile brightened a room and his laugh was so jovial that others often laughed in hearing it. He had a tender heart, helped many people to find employment, build their businesses, and was eager to lend a helping hand. Bob is survived by his loving wife, his fivedaughters, Valerie Mayer (Norman), Alicia Martin (Eddie), Leslie Seaton (Mike), Dana Crenshaw Dupriest (David), and Meredith Renfro; his grandchildren, Jonathan and Elizabeth Martin, Chandler Crenshaw, Madison and Macy Dupriest, and Zac Seaton; his sister, Norma Van Meter; and brother, Ronald Thomas (Mary). A celebration of life service will be held on December 8, 2013, at 2 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 222 Walnut St. Jeffersonville, IN. In lieu of flowers, donations in may be made to St. Jude's Children's Hospital or Wounded Warriors. On line condolence www.owenfuneralhome.com