Louise Brooks Thomas, August 25, 1922 - September 14, 2021 // Columbus, Georgia - Louise Brooks Thomas, 99, of Columbus, GA, died September 14, 2021 at Spring Harbor at Green Island. // Mrs. Thomas was born in Columbus, Georgia, on August 25, 1922, the only child of Joseph Henry Brooks, III, and Helen Russell Brooks, whose roots in Muscogee County go back to 1836. She was preceded in death by her husband of 42 years, Kenneth Harrison Thomas, Sr., and her son, Joseph Brooks Thomas, both in 1985. // She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Columbus for over sixty years, and had served as a deacon. Having previously been a member of Wynnton Baptist, she joined First Presbyterian before her marriage there on August 30, 1942. Most recently she had joined First Baptist. // She is survived by a son, Kenneth H. Thomas, Jr., of Decatur, Ga., a daughter, Helen Melissa Thomas, and Melissa's husband, James E. Thomas, of Midland, Ga. // Mrs. Thomas attended Wynnton Elementary School and was a graduate of Columbus High School, Class of 1939. She spent one year at GSCW (now Georgia College and State University) in Milledgeville, and graduated with a degree in business administration from Auburn University in 1943. Just before she transferred to Auburn she had met her future husband in the summer of 1940.
She lived her entire life in Columbus except for a brief period when she and her husband lived in Los Angeles while he attended a U. S. Army Air Corps Meteorology School (1943) at UCLA. She worked as a teller at a bank in Beverly Hills where she met many movie stars and obtained their autographs. Her husband later served in Italy and returned to the U. S. as a captain in early 1946. // Mrs. Thomas retired in 2003 at age 81 as the president and comptroller of Ken Thomas of Georgia, Inc., Acura/BMW dealer. She had joined the family automobile business, Brooks and Thomas Motors, in the mid-1950s, as comptroller/office manager. She became president of the automobile business in 1985 upon the death of her husband. She served on the board of directors of the Georgia Automobile Dealers' Association from 1986 to 1989, an organization which her husband served as president in 1973 and 1974. // She traveled with her family and her husband to many locations. The trips were often associated with business meetings and took her to Europe, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and the Caribbean, as well as all over the United States. // In May 2006 she moved to Spring Harbor at Green Island retirement community, where she continued to reside until her death. // She remained an avid Auburn football fan her entire life, having attended many games with her husband and friends tailgating in their Winnebago. Later, she continued to follow the games on television and was well-known at Spring Harbor for her Auburn support. // While many people of her generation bypassed the computer age, she embraced it eagerly. Until her 95th year she kept her investments updated and bank accounts current on her computer, and also performed considerable research on it as well. // Having survived breast cancer twice, she had been an early advocate of helping others, had joined a support group, and had counseled other women, young and old, on the topic. // She was a member of the Historic Columbus Foundation, and the Historic Linwood Foundation. // The family wishes to express deep gratitude to long-term caregivers Laura J. West, Lilly W. Hopkins, and Angela Jelks, along with Dr. Jamal Mohyuddin, staff, nurses, and CNAs at Spring Harbor for all their support and services during the last three years of Mrs. Thomas's life. // Celebration of Life services for Mrs. Thomas will be held at 11:00 AM, Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at Striffler-Hamby Mortuary, Columbus, GA, with Dr. James C. Elder, Jr., officiating. Interment will follow in Parkhill Cemetery. // In keeping with the efforts to control the spread of COVID-19, we ask that everyone follow social distancing guidelines and wear a mask in order to remain safe. // If you wish to remember Louise with a donation, the family requests, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions to be made to the Historic Columbus Foundation, 1440 2nd Ave., Columbus, GA 31901, the Historic Linwood Foundation, P. O. Box 1057, Columbus, GA 31902, Piedmont Columbus Regional Health Foundation, Breast Cancer Fund, 707 Center St., Suite 100, Columbus, GA 31901 or Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation, 1575 NE Expressway NE, Atlanta, GA 30329, where she established an endowment in memory of her parents to help hearing- impaired children, and Auburn University, where she established an Endowment Fund for Scholastic Excellence in memory of her husband.