Thomas

John Lewis Thomas, city editor of the Butler Eagle for more than 30 years, died on March 22, 2012, in Colorado.

The son of John Lewis and Edna Bock Thomas, he was born in Sandusky, Ohio, on July 12, 1925.

He was a journalism graduate from Kent State University. Early in his career, he worked for the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Ashland (Ohio) Gazette, where he met his late wife, Shirley. They were married in 1956 and moved to Butler, where John was a reporter and later, city editor of the Eagle.

Upon his retirement from the Eagle in 1988, John moved to Pittsburgh, where he was a passionate attendee of Penguins hockey games and enjoyed art museums and jazz clubs. In 2006, John fell on the way to a Penguins game, breaking an arm and a leg, but continued on to the hockey game. After these injuries, John moved to Lakeland, Fla., and then to Evergreen, Colo.

John is survived by five children, Nikki Sherwin of Lakeland, Fla., Cindy Haunty of Butler, Cathy Ballinger of Houston, Texas, Lisa Thomas-Kaonohi of Silver Spring, Md., and John Lewis Thomas III of Evergreen, Colo.

John lived to know eight grandchildren, including John Lewis Thomas IV, and seven great-grandchildren. He passed away before the birth of his eighth granddaughter to his son, John, and his wife, Ann, on April 9, 2012.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Shirley, in 1997 and by his sister, Mary, in February 2011.

<B>THOMAS</B> — The family of John Lewis Thomas, who died on Thursday, March 22, 2012, will hold a memorial gathering in Pittsburgh during the summer.