Bob Thomas Obituary
by Todd Thomas
Robert Ray (Bob) Thomas, of Kinston, NC, retired Vice-President of Management Recruiters of Kinston, entrepreneur and writer, died Saturday, August 22, 2015 at 1:40am in Rocky Mount, NC, following complications from respiratory illness.
He was born in Charlotte, NC on January 23, 1943, to Margie Crowell Allen Thomas and William E. Thomas, Sr. He grew up in Charlotte, graduated from West Mecklenburg High School and attended Gardner Webb College. He served four years in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam conflict. He traveled all over the world for assignments as an electronics technician, but he was based at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City. While stationed in Oklahoma City he met his first wife Leona Michelle Wells and they had one son, William Todd Thomas.
He left Oklahoma City for New Orleans and chance to follow in his father’s footstep as a salesman with Schwinn Bicycle Company. He stayed in New Orleans until 1978 when he moved to Kinston to open the stereo store Sounds Fantastic in Vernon Park Mall with his brother Bill. After the store closed he went to work with his brother as an Executive Recruiter at Management Recruiters of Kinston.
Shortly after arriving Kinston he met and married Kristi Ellen Harbage. Bob and Kristi shared an interest in handmade art and fine crafts. In his spare time Bob was an accomplished potter and wood worker, while Kristi enjoyed expressing her artistic side with handmade jewelry. After 13 years at Management Recruiters, Bob and Kristi decided to “quit the rat race and move to the beach”. They both quit their jobs, sold their house and moved to Swansboro, NC and opened Kristi’s Gallery. They displayed and sold fine arts & crafts representing the work of hundreds of artists from across the USA.
Always an engaging storyteller, a monthly update to his artists turned into a monthly newsletter about the gallery, Swansboro and life in general. He had discovered a love of writing, he satisfied this inner craving to express himself by writing the Gallery Newsletter, an occasional contribution to the local newspaper in Swansboro and in 1998 his short story “Who was that Masked Man?” was published in “A 5th Portion of Chicken Soup for the Soul”
He continued writing entertaining short stories throughout the rest of his life, many of which were published on various on-line sites, he eventually started his own blog to share his stories at www.bobthomaswrites.com.
In 2003 he tried his hand at retirement. He moved back to Oklahoma City to be near his son Todd, but it only took a few months for him to realize that he was not ready to retire. He returned to Kinston where he finished his professional life as Vice-President of Management Recruiters before finally retiring in 2013.
He is survived by one son, William Todd Thomas (Denise) of Oklahoma City, OK, one brother, William E. Thomas, Jr. (Mary Ellen) of Savannah, GA, two nephews, Kevin William Thomas (Chris) of Raleigh, NC, and Timothy Evan Thomas (Kathy) of Alpharetta, GA, one grand-nephew, Evan Gardner Thomas, and one grand-niece, Maggie Olivia Thomas, both of Alpharetta, GA. He is also survived by his loving ex-wife, Kristi Harbage Thomas of Charlotte, NC, who provided significant comfort and care during his final months.
He is also survived by, and often expressed his love for, his cousins: Tina Austin, Linda Jones, Pamela Ventura, Pete Kidwell, and Frank Polites. He would want to be remembered to a dear friend, O. Kay Jackson.
He is preceded in death and will be welcomed with open arms by his loving parents Bill and Margie, his first wife Michele and his best friend George Lapas. His final resting place will be with his parents in the city where he was born at Forest Lawn West Cemetery in Charlotte, NC.
A memorial service will be held at 11:00 am on Tuesday August 25, 2015 at 11:00 am. At the Howard-Carter Funeral Home, 1608 West Vernon Avenue, Kinston, NC, 28502.
Daddy was the best friend, mentor, teacher and father that a man could ask for.
I can’t even imagine what my life would have been without him to guide me. I will try to make sure I stay the course that he has set for me and not drift, now that I have lost my rudder.
His passing has left a hole in my heart and my life that will never be filled again. I will miss him everyday for the rest of my life.
TT
“Uncle” Bob had the rare gift of joy and laughter. You couldn’t be in the same room with him and not be smiling. I will always remember his laugh, warmth, and wonderful hugs. Know Bob’s family and friends will miss him terribly as he sets off on his next adventure.
Just wow. I worked with Bob at MRI and he became sort of a mentor to me. Always a quick wit and a joke if he knew you were having a bad day.
RIP Bob.
Bob was truly an exceptional man and a wonderful Cousin. Being in his presence made it impossible to not smile, as his broad sense of humor was infectious, and his wit and outlook was genuine, with a bit of ornery.
I will never forget the last time I saw him- when he dropped me off at the airport in Atlanta in 2007and gave me a great big “goodbye” hug, and an “I love you, Cuzzin” that left us both a bit misty-eyed.
I love you too, Cuzzin Bob. A lot.
May you rest in Heavenly peace.
Oh, Bob—He was one of my best guy pals. We laughed many times, and I cried lots of times. He was my “go to” confidant all through my single-girl days. I think he was happy that I finally settled down with a good fellow. I shall miss his wicked, though often irreverent jokes, his smile, and his friendship. Our last meeting was at his dining room away from home, the Chik-Fil-A in Kinston. Rest in peace, my friend.
He will still be watching over you and that husband of yours, making sure that he treats you right!! We often talked about how you were doing during those single-girl days. He was proud that you loved him and talked to him about your life and that you valued his wisdom about men and life and– he was usually right!
Bob and I became friends many years ago working on the Festival Committee in Swansboro. He was an absolute joy to be around. Always telling a story, joining him occasionally at the best place in town to eat- The BP station. I so missed him after he left Swansboro.
Kristy my love goes out to you and Todd.
Bob was my friend. I I haven’t decided yet if it is me, or others that is more discriminating, but either way, I don’t have many. He was of a select few.
Bob was someone that could insult you to your face, but still leave you laughing – at yourself and how silly you were being at the time.
He was kind enough to drive me to Charlotte for the MRI Regional meetings once, then he was stuck with me each year. I LOVED his stories and could listen to them for 7 hours straight (apparently) and not get tired of them Did you know that he say Harry Connick Jr. play in a bar in New Orleans. He, meaning Harry Connick, was only 12 years old at the time. He came to the bar to play, but they sent him away because he was too young to be in there. He came back later with his father, and that is when Bob heard him play.
After about 3 years, I think Bob was getting tired of telling me stories (believe it or not) and he brought a movie – Memphis Belle (the only movie he owned). this was when he was driving that big yellow and black truck that looked like a bee. Someone had rigged the GPS screen in the front seat to play movies, so that is what I did. I had never seen that movie before. It was great – lots of action, love, tears. I am one of those people that gets VERY into movies. I gasp, and cry, and smile, and duck when the bridge is coming, etc. When we got to Charlotte and settled in that evening drinking a glass of wine, bob told me that watching me watch that movie – was more fun than watching the movie! I think he found me oddly entertaining. After the conference, we got in his truck and headed home. Bob usually left the windows of his truck wide open no matter what weather (this was November) I had made the mistake of wearing some new shoes that were made of man made materials and had hurt my feet, so I took them off. I have a really bad sense of smell, but by the time we got to Goldsboro, I caught a whiff of the most God awful foot smell I had ever experienced. IT WAS ME!!!!! I screamed at Bob “Oh my God Bob, Why didn’t you tell me my feet smelled?” We both spent the next few minutes awkwardly laughing and drove the rest of the way home with my feet hanging out the window. From that point on, every once in a while, he would just look down at my feet.
He was also famous for giving me wet willies when I was on the phone with important clients. For a large man, he was very stealth.
I loved Bob. And I know he loved me.
Annette, thanks for your love of Bob, I know that Todd is not surprised (nor am I) about how many people loved him. He loved everyone back unconditionally.
I have known Bob for 30+ years,and many of those years we worked together. He and I had some common interests..woodworking, the coast of NC, curiosity of ‘the way mechanical things worked’, airplanes, cars, books about war and combat (fiction or otherwise), etc. I guess there wasn’t a topic you could name that Bob couldn’t relate to, either with a story (he always had plenty of those), or a trivial fact you didn’t know.
If you just wanted to sit quietly with Bob..good luck…he was always going to inject something into the silence that developed into a lively conversation or an interesting story or three.
I will forevermore miss his wit and companionship and I can only take heart that he is in a better place.
My earliest memories of Uncle Bob were seeing him, either in an airport or Grandma and Grandpa’s house in Charlotte. The first thing my brother and I would do is jump on him and try to wrestle him to the ground. It never worked. When he got tired of us crawling on him, he would take his big fingers and somehow manage to get them in between my ribs…I bet you did not know that your spleen is ticklish. Absolutely no one has ever been able to tickle me, except Uncle Bob – I guess only he knows the exact ribs to go between to get to my spleen. Bob found that my children love it when he tickles me, so every visit, my kids would look forward to the moment that Bob would come up behind me and make me collapse to the floor laughing.
I know that Bob did not get to see his son as often as he would have liked when Todd was growing up, but he always had a story about him or a picture of him. One of my favorite memories was going to New Orleans in 1978 to visit Bob with Todd, my mother, brother and grandmother. I was 15 and Bob had converted half his garage into a slot car racetrack and the other half to a darkroom where he taught me the basics of printing my own photos (pre-digital). A few months later, Bob sent me a 10 or 15 page letter on legal paper that explained everything I would ever need to know about photography from composition, depth of field, and aperture, to shutter speed and film speed, with lots of humorous illustrations.
When Bob moved to Kinston to open Sounds Fantastic stereo store with my Dad, I worked there. I remember once during a slow time, we received the first piece of stereo equipment with a remote control. It was a dual cassette tape deck. Bob recorded his voice on a tape, put it in the deck and we waited. Finally, one customer wandered in and slowly made his way along the wall of stereo’s, trying each one out until he finally got to the high end system with the tape deck. He slowly reached toward the tape deck, when Bob hit the play button and the stereo said “Don’t touch that!”. The customer took a step back, looked at it for a while, looked left and right, then slowly stepped forward and reached for it again and got a louder “I said, Don’t Touch That!”. I don’t know if he made a third attempt or not, as we were on the floor laughing.
I will miss Uncle Bob dearly. He has left me a lifetime of stories, memories, advice, laughter, smiles and one of the greatest gifts of all, my wonderful cousin, Todd.
We knew Bob and Kristi when they owned Kristi’s Gallery in Swansboro. I still have several pieces of jewelry that was created by Kristi. I served with Bob on the Swansboro Festival Committee when it was just forming. He always brought great ideas and discussions to the table. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.