Abbie Frances Robinson Thomas

Abbie Frances Robinson Thomas Abbie Frances Robinson Thomas, of Ellisville, passed away on Wednesday, January 6, 2016, at Nan’s Personal Care Home in Ellisville. Visitation will be held at Memory Chapel beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, January 9, 2016, with services to follow at 11 a.m. Burial will be at Hickory Grove Cemetery. Dr. Randy Turner will officiate. Frances spent most of her life at Jones County Junior College and has been quoted as saying “my heart bleeds maroon and gold”. Born in Waynesboro, Frances was a devoted JCJC student, instructor, secretary treasurer for the JCJC alumni association and a member emeritus of the JCJC Foundation Board of Directors. Due to the untimely death of her mother when Frances was 14, she finished high school in Starkville and then began her journey at JCJC. Frances lived off-campus at the “Thomas House” dormitory on Court Street in Ellisville from 1939 to 1941. Frances loved those years. She could recall the names of the 25 girls living in the house and could remember that the house had only one bathroom and the courting couples kissing good night on the front porch. After completing her course work at Jones, Frances received her undergraduate degree at Mississippi State University where she met her husband, Elwood Thomas. At the University of Southern Mississippi she received her Master’s Degree and earned 35 more hours of graduate courses. During her 40 year teaching career Frances taught at high schools in Flora and Shady Grove, and at Jackson Business College in Laurel. From 1945 to 1949 she worked at United Gas Corp. in Laurel. In 1955 she joined the faculty at JCJC as a business education instructor. At the time of her retirement from JCJC she was serving as chairman of the business division at Jones, a position she held since 1973. Twice during her 28 years at Jones she was named Mississippi Junior College Teacher of the Year. In 2003 she was named as Outstanding Alumnus of Jones County Junior College. She was also a proud parade marshal at the 2010 JCJC Homecoming Parade. She loved hearing from her former students, and in retirement enjoyed traveling in the United States and Europe, and the South and Central Americas. She served as President and Vice President of Laurel’s Altrusa Club, was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, Kappa Delta Pi, Delta Pi Epsilon, and a member of the Board of Directors of Laurel’s YWCA, and was a 50-year member of the First Baptist Church of Laurel. Special thanks go to Sandra Blackledge and the staff of Nan’s Personal Care Home, and her special caregiver Mary Nell Dean, and caregivers Latasha Campbell, Winnie Campbell, Magalene Hicks, Charlotte Holder, and Sharon Pitts. Survivors include her nieces Sue Thomas Coker (Charlie) of Ellisville, Susan Robinson Cantrell, Eaton, Pennsylvania, Reba Robinson Pettit of Johns Island, South Carolina; Linda Monroe Keller (John) of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina; and nephew Bob Monroe (Martha), New Albany, MS. She was predeceased by her husband, Elwood Thomas, parents Walter E. and Nell Prescott Robinson, brother Willard E. Robinson, nephew Harold Keith Robinson and sister-in-law Lucille DeVall Thomas. Memorials to the Frances R. Thomas Scholarship Fund at Jones County Junior College, 900 South Court Street, Ellisville, Mississippi 39437 or the First Baptist Church of Laurel, Mississippi. To sign the online guest book, visit www.memorychapellaurel.com.

Abbie Frances Robinson Thomas

June 2, 1921 - January 6, 2016