George was born on May 3, 1927 in Seattle, WA to George and Daisy (Forrester) Thomas. After graduation from Bellingham High School in 1945 he joined the U.S. Army. After discharge he married Glennis Evans in 1948. They enjoyed almost 74 years of marriage before George passed on January 25th of 2022.
George began his working career at the Bellingham Shipyard, then Wallace Chevrolet in auto body repair and then moved over to Puget Sound Pulp and Timber which became Georgia Pacific from where he retired.
George and Glennis raised four boys in the Silver Beach area of Bellingham. Vaughn (Cherri), Mark (Connie), Bryan (Gerry) and Craig (Susan). George enjoyed his ten grandchildren and his seven great-grandchildren including many flyfishing camping trips to Montana.
He was always doing something for his family or his community. It started in his garage in Silver Beach where he repaired everyone’s car and then taught himself to make expansion chambers for two stroke motorcycles for the neighborhood boys and their friends.
George became interested in judo in his late thirties and earned his black belt. He taught judo and women’s self-defense at the YMCA for close to 20 years. Judo was his launching pad to learn the Japanese language and travel to Japan where he rode his bicycle around the country on three different trips while also staying longer and teaching English at a Japanese pre-school.
He and Glennis enjoyed many lasting friendships from these adventures in Japan and they hosted numerous Japanese families associated with the sister city program (Tateyama) at their home on 14th St.
Golf became a favorite hobby later in life and of course he would tinker with and make golf clubs for his friends and family. George also had one of the first electric bicycles in Bellingham and he was always tearing it apart to make the battery work better, and it did.
George has passed from this life but there is one thing we can be sure of; he is very busy.
Our family is deeply grateful for the care and love George received from The Bellingham At Orchard Park memory care in the last 15 months of his life. What an amazing staff they have.
Condolences to Glennis Thomas c/o Summit Place, 2901 Connelly Street, Bellingham, WA 98225
You can share memories of George at
www.westfordfuneralhome.com
.