George Mars Thomas Jr., 86, of Slippery Rock passed away at Transitions in Health Autumn Grove at 12:05 a.m. Thursday.

Born on Aug. 9, 1925, he was the son of George Mars Thomas and Margaret Jane Nesbit Thomas.

He married Dorothy Louise Miller Thomas on Nov. 13, 1946.

He had a tool sharpening business. He was a self-employed farmer and a railroad fireman on the “Pennsy” Pennsylvania Railroad alongside his father, who was an engineer of the train “Broadway Limited.”

He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II in both the Atlantic and Pacific on the USS Day Destroyer Escort ship 225 as an electrician's mate. He always loved attending his ship's reunion.

He was employed by H.V. McIntosh building homes in Allegheny County near the Greater Pittsburgh Airport. He then worked at Youngstown Sheet and Tube and later in the maintenance department at Slippery Rock University. He concluded his working career as a city mail carrier at the Slippery Rock post office.

He was a member of the Harlansburg Presbyterian Church and a life member of the Scott Township Fire Department.

Survivors include his wife, Dorothy Thomas of Slippery Rock; a son, George M. (Maria) Thomas III of Slippery Rock; a daughter, Barbara (Curt) Brown of Eckley, Colo.; five grandchildren, Erin Frank, Kathleen Burns, Shawn Brown, Caitlyn Brown and Meghan Claypoole; and four great-grandchildren, Cassidy Claypoole, Taylor Frank, Aryia Burns and Carson Brown.

He is preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Robert; and a sister, Elizabeth “Betty” Hosack.

<B>THOMAS</B> — Funeral services for George Mars Thomas Jr., who died Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012, will be at the <B>Smith Funeral Home</B>, 421 New Castle St., Slippery Rock, at 4 p.m. Monday with the Rev. Brady Randall, pastor of the Harlansburg Presbyterian Church, presiding. Family and friends will be received at the funeral home from 2 p.m. until time of service at 4 p. m. on Monday. Interment will be in Unity Baptist Cemetery, Harlansburg, Pa.