The Millsaps College community mourns the loss of the Reverend John Ed Thomas III, 70, Millsaps Board Trustee and active minister in the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church, who passed away Saturday, November 24, at his residence. Visitation will be held at Parkway Heights United Methodist Church Monday from 12-2 p.m., with a Service of Worship to follow. Officiating will be the Reverends Eddie Rester and Claire Dobbs. Interment will be at Lakewood Memorial Park in Jackson at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, November 27. Hulett-Winstead Funeral Home in Hattiesburg is in charge of arrangements.
A native of Woodville, Miss., Rev. Thomas held a Bachelor of Arts degree from Millsaps College and a Master of Divinity degree from Emory University. He served first as associate pastor at First United Methodist Church in Gulfport, Miss. From there, he spread his work around various parishes, holding pastorates in Yazoo County, Gautier, Ocean Springs, Hattiesburg and, finally, Columbus.
Rev. Thomas served for many years on the Board of Trustees of Millsaps College, in addition to terms on the boards of Methodist Hospital in Hattiesburg, the Methodist Medical Center in Jackson and the Methodist-LeBonheur Healthcare Foundation in Memphis.
He represented the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church as a delegate to two Jurisdictional Conferences and one General Conference. Rev. Thomas also served as Chairman of the Boards of Directors of Seashore Assembly and the Mississippi Methodist Service Credit Union and Member of the Boards of ordained Ministry and Pensions, as well as on the Conference Council on Ministries, the Committees on the Episcopacy and Group Insurance and the Boards of Ordained Ministry and Pensions. Additionally, he was a member of the Rotary Club of Hattiesburg and had earlier served as president of the Ocean Springs Rotary Club.
Rev. Thomas was preceded in death by his parents, John Edward Thomas Jr. and Ora Ella Huff Thomas, and one sister, Dean T. Jarreau. He is survived by his wife, Margaret Ewing Thomas, and children, Susan T. and Tracy Stillman of Humble, Texas, Molly Ewing Thomas of Nashville, Tenn., and John Edward Thomas IV and DeAnna Thomas of Dallas.
Memorials may be made to the building fund of the Edwards Street Ministry of Parkway Heights United Methodist Church, 2420 Hardy St., Hattiesburg, MS 39401, or the Michael Bufkin Scholarship fund of the Mississippi Boychoir, in care of Patricia Sherman at Parkway Heights UMC.
