Patricia A. Thomas, age 94 a longtime teacher and librarian at the Central Columbia High School, died January 2, 2024, at home in Carroll Park, with her daughters and great-granddaughters at her side. Mrs. Thomas - Pat or Patty to her friends, Mumsy or Gramma to her family - loved music, reading, puzzles, a low-stakes poker game with friends and a good laugh. She disliked cooking but look out if you loaded her dishwasher the wrong way.

After she had a heart attack in her mid-60s, she challenged her doctors with the same question at nearly every appointment: Do you think I'll make it to (insert the next age ending in a five or a zero)? They didn't say no, so she kept going, outlasting several of them who retired along the way.

Patricia Henry was born in Sunbury on Aug. 24, 1929, a daughter of the late Alexander Stout Henry and Arlene Gift Henry Manganiello. She spent her younger years in Shamokin, where she made memories that fueled a lifetime of stories, some of which only resurfaced recently. She briefly attended Penn State, where she disliked nearly everything except a music appreciation course that introduced her to Johannes Brahms, then graduated from Cedar Crest College. She also did graduate work at several universities.

In Shamokin, Patty met the love of her life, Robert L. Thomas. She called him Bobby to the end. They married in 1952, a union that lasted until his death in 2014. Around 1955, they moved to Carroll Park, in a house that remains in the family. It was a house where music lived. If Patty wasn't playing her beloved Steinway upright piano, she was picking out tunes on one of her many stringed instruments or singing barbershop ditties with Bob. A suitor of one of their daughters still knows the words to "Thrivo," a dusty old dog food commercial.

She was a member of Ridge Street United Methodist Church. Patty's love of music lasted the rest of her life. Into her 80s, she played piano at the Ridge Street United Methodist Church in Almedia or entertained social groups with an autoharp or zither. Until a few months ago, she still played regularly. When she wasn't playing, she was listening to classical music from her extensive collection. It wasn't unusual to finding her in the rocking chair, "conducting" the orchestra playing her beloved "three Bs" - Bach, Beethoven and Brahms.

In addition to her parents and her husband, she was preceded in death by a sister, Barbara Henry Kiniry, son-in-law John I. Eppley, and beloved pets Mutley, Pokey, Duffy and Max.

Survivors include daughters Gayle (Gaye) Thomas Eppley, with whom she lived, and Jodie Morris and her husband David of Benton; grandson Alex Eppley; great-granddaughters Paige, Alyssa and Keira Eppley, a nephew, Kevin Kiniry, and a niece, Kim Kiniry Kocher.

Memorial services will begin on Monday, August 26, 2024 at 10:00 am at Ridge Street United Methodist Church, 145 Ridge St., Bloomsburg with Rev. Kelly Kocher-Ross, officiating. Graveside committal services will immediately follow in Creveling Cemetery, Almedia. The family extends appreciation to the hospice angels at Compassus. The Allen Funeral Home, Inc., 745 Market at Eighth Street, Bloomsburg is honored to be serving the Thomas family.

Memorial contributions in Patricia's name are suggested to: Ridge Street United Methodist Church, 145 Ridge St., Bloomsburg, PA 17815.