The Richmond News, March 28, 2025

Lois Thomas

Lois June Thomas, 95, of Richmond passed away peacefully March 21, 2025, in Liberty. Lois – or June, as most knew her – was born May 28, 1929, in Braymer to Henry J. Mills and Mildred Irene McBee. June graduated in 1947 from Orrick High School and went on to graduate from Central Business College in Kansas City. After college, she went to work for Lake City Arsenal, where she manufactured ammunition for the war effort before taking a job at Vendo as a secretary.

On June 3, 1948, she was wed in marriage to Paul Kenneth Thomas in Orrick.

June had many passions in this life. She loved the outdoors with hunting, fishing and finding morel mushrooms. Once, she ended up with her picture in the paper after shooting a 12-point buck in Ray County. She took flying lessons and flagged for her husband Paul while he was crop-dusting.

She also loved to read, travel and garden, canning her own tomato juice and making pickles. In 1972, June even traveled around the world in two weeks.

June was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, earning a title of Worthy Matron.

June was preceded in death by her husband, Paul Kenneth Thomas; sister, Lila Elizabeth Mills-Albertson; and niece, Deborah Ellen Albertson Hamelton.

Survivors include two daughters, Linda Sue Thomas of Liberty and Paula June Thomas of Richmond; one son, Mark Randall Thomas of Rayville; and one sister, Mary Margaret Mills Padget of Odessa.

Other survivors include two grandsons, Kenneth Dean Thomas of Rayville and Travis Neal Thomas of Grandview; three nieces, Marcia Albertson Evans of Kansas City, Jaime Padget of Oak Grove and Shannon Padget-Kleindienst of Monroe City; and three nephews, Robert Lynn Albertson of Kansas City, Martin Padget of Lake Winnebago and John Padget of Odessa.

No funeral services will be held, per June’s request. A private burial will take place at Union Cemetery just outside of Orrick.

She will be loved and missed by many.