Lloyd Thomas

It is with deep sorrow and sadness that we announce the passing of Lloyd Henry Thomas in the early morning hours of Sunday, January 1, 2023. He enjoyed a rich and fulfilling life of 90 years before succumbing to the frailties of this earthly probation.

Lloyd Thomas was born on September 17, 1932, in Provo, Utah to Henry and Naomi Thomas.

His childhood was spent in Salt Lake City with his boyhood friend, Donald Humphrey, building model airplanes. They were loyal fishing buddies and spent many summers in the Uintah Mountains camping and fishing by themselves, and remain in touch to this day.

While he was a sophomore at Granite High School, Lloyd and several of his friends joined the Combat Engineers of the U.S. Army. When the Korean War broke out in June 1950, Lloyd learned that his Combat Engineers unit was scheduled to go to Korea. He didn’t want to go to Korea, so he joined the U.S. Air Force for a four-year enlistment.

At the end of his enlistment, Lloyd went to Air Cadet training at Spence AFB, Georgia, and Goodfellow AFB, Texas. It was during this time that Lloyd met Geraldine (Geri) Burr on a blind date arranged by his childhood friend Donald Humphrey. They married shortly afterwards in July 1955 in the Logan Utah LDS Temple. Together, Lloyd and Geri raised five children, all of whom married in LDS temples. They frequently talk with pride about raising such faithful children.

Geri faithfully accompanied Lloyd on his many travels and assignments for the Air Force. Together they lived in France and traveled to Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg. While living in Naha, Okinawa, they traveled to Bangkok, Thailand, various sites in Japan, and the Philippines. While living in Rabat, Morocco, they traveled to Gibraltar, Spain, and Portugal. Lloyd and Geri collected souvenirs for their children from each of these vacation spots.

Early in his flying career, Lloyd was stationed in Evreux, France. From here he flew many missions to Africa during a time when many countries across the continent were throwing off European colonization and developing into fledgling democracies. These destinations included Mauritania, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Gabon (where he met Dr. Albert Schweitzer), Congo (now called Zaire), Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, Ethiopia as well as places in the Middle East of Lebanon, Cyprus, Syria, Pakistan, and Iran. On one trip to Libya, he helped recover the remains of the crew from the Lady Be Good.

His flying career continued at Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts, Naha AFB, Okinawa, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and Rabat, Morocco. When his flying career ended, Lloyd continued his Air Force career at Malmstrom AFB, Montana, Palgongsan Air Station in South Korea, and finally at Duluth International Airport, Minnesota where he retired with the rank of Lt Col.

When his time in the Air Force came to a close in 1976, Lloyd wanted to retire in a small town. He chose Tooele where he and his family operated the Western Auto store for many years.

Lloyd retained his childhood passion of hiking and fishing throughout his life. When he could, he took his children to climb Mt. Fuji-San in Japan, Toubkal in Morocco, Glacier National Park and the Continental Divide in Montana, and other places. He took his children deep-sea fishing while living in Okinawa, as well as fishing in various lakes in Utah, Montana, and Minnesota.

After his children left home for college, Lloyd turned to woodworking and taxidermy. He won numerous awards for these two hobbies. For many years he used his woodworking skills to make Christmas presents and birthday presents for his grandchildren. To his surprise, Lloyd’s posterity increased so much and so fast that he couldn’t keep up, so he had to cut back on his woodworking projects for his grandchildren.

Graveside services are pending.