Richard Reese Thomas, 30 July 1896

FORMER MALAD MAN KILLED IN ACCIDENT

POCATELLO – A Pocatello laundry worker, Richard Reese Thomas, 55, 1131 S. Third Ave., died September 16, 1952 and a driving companion was in a Pocatello hospital after a Saturday night automobile wreck on Pocatello Creek Road.

Bannock County Deputy Sheriff Earl Cutler said Sunday the 1951 auto driven by Eugene Moore, 28, skidded on gravel, went out of control, overturned and came to rest 15 feet off the highway.

Mr. Thomas was thrown from the car as it careened off the road. His body was found 75 feet from the point the auto stopped. He apparently died instantly of head and neck injuries, the deputy said.

Mr. Moore was reported in good condition at Pocatello General Hospital Sunday.

Richard Reese Thomas was born July 30, 1896 in Malad City, a son of Ephraim and Margaret Thomas Thomas.

He attended Malad schools and was a veteran of World War I.

Mr. Thomas married Marie Bishoff in Pocatello Nov. 25, 1919 and they moved to Arbon where he operated a farm until 1939. In 1939 he moved to American Falls where he was employed by the Utah Power and Light Co. until 1942 when he moved to Pocatello.

He was employed by the US Army Air Base and the US Naval Ordinance Plant until 1949 when he started working to the Troy Laundry.

Mr. Thomas was a member of the International Union of Laundry Workers.

Surviving are his widow; three sons and a daughter, Richard Devoy and Alvin J. Thomas, Pocatello; John B. Thomas, Los Angeles, CA; Mrs. Judd Suddarth, Seattle, WA; four grandchildren; one brother and three sisters, Joe T. Thomas, Mrs. Frank Barnett and Mrs. John H. Bolingbroke, Pocatello, and Mrs. D.L. Bolingbroke, Malad.