Born to Elizabeth B. Johnson and Andrew Jackson Gomillion "Mr. Bud" (Family Bible owned by their niece lists Andre Jackson Gomillion) Thad lost his mother at a tender age (Aug 17, 1902 - he was 8) and essentially made his way in the world alone. When in his teens there were no jobs locally so he and the future Mobile Circuit Judge Bill Taylor walked all the way to Texas to get a job in the oil industry. Bill was hired but Thad was turned away because he was a "cripple. (He had an accident as a child, "skinning a cat," he said, which left one leg shorter than the other. He said he vowed on the way back to Brooks, Alabama to never work for anyone or any company - only himsef. And he kept that vow.
The only way to describe Thad Gomillion is to say he was bigger than life. He was courted by politicians, gambled with Al Copone, who sent a bodyguard with him to his hotel to ensure no one stole his winnings. He love Big Jim Folsom and Folsom loved him. Sen. Sparkman relied on his to take care of his local business. It was written that he controlled north Covington politics and was a "law unto himself." He imbued his offspring with a strict sense of right and wrong ("Decide what's right and do it, no matter the consequence.) and spent many hours instructing his granddaughter on bird calls and how to treat your fellow man ("Take care of them." His presence dominated any gathering and he had a sense of humor which permeated his existence. A granddaughter wrote that she did not realize he was cripple until she was in college, heard someone approaching who sounded like her grandfather and turned to find a cripple approaching. Thad and his father had a close if fiery working relationship. He worked in his father's store growing up. Mr. Bud eventually moved to Brooks (at that time Thad, Alabama) and set up a store across the railroad tracks from the store started by Thad and Irene, who had a partnership. Competitors. Thad started businesses; Irene Lee Gomillion ran them. They both were postmaster and postmistress. They bought land, cut the timber and used it to buy more land, owning some 1500 acres at his death. The only disagreement the free-wheeling Thad had with his wife evolved from his ownership of taverns (which the very religious Irene huffily called beer joints). But he gave generously to her churches. (When the McKenzie train depot was torn down he bought the benches and gave them to the Brooks Missionary Baptist Church.) He was the central force uniting his family, most of whom unfortunately inherited his "Gomillion voice" which when raised could be heard for a country mile. Family occasions were warm and wonderful and loud and when he died it left a place at the table never to be filled.