Inscription
Beloved wife of Claude Thomas. Cherished daughter of John and Ann Rock of Toledo. The couple had moved from Toledo to Marion for Mr. Thomas' employment and had settled at the "Georgian Apartments", 131 South State Street (razed in 2015). Irene was returning home from doing her shopping on the morning of May 19, 1934, and ascending the rear fire escape stairs to her apartment, she was struck by bullets fired by Bert Ellis Dean as he attempted to kill his wife, a house keeper for Thomas Hoffman who lived on the floor below Claude and Irene Thomas. The bullets struck Mrs. Thomas' in the chest and abdominal area, rupturing her spleen, and damaging her kidney's and liver. While she did initially survive, infection set in and she died ten days later. Also killed in the attack were Mr. Hoffman. Dean, the assailant also shot his wife and a guest of Hoffman's who was going to accompany him to the re-internment services for his first wife whose grave was being moved from Marion Cemetery to Forrest Glen (Chapel Heights). Some months following her death, Claude Thomas attempted to kill himself, a letter stating that he grief over the loss of his wife made life too difficult to carry on.
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
