George Kreider Thomas ’53

Our friend George died Dec. 9, 1995, at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Danville, Ill.

He was born Sept. 23, 1930, in Birmingham, Ala. The family moved to Springfield, Ill., and George graduated from Lake Forest Academy.

At Princeton he roomed with Lew Kleinhans III, Gren Paynter, Jerry Wilson, and Dick Drayton. He was a member of Charter Club and majored in economics. George's father, Benjamin P. Thomas, was a noted scholar and writer of what is considered the best one-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln. The elder Thomas spent summers in New Jersey, where he met Lewis Kleinhans Jr. '25. They became lifelong friends and vowed that their sons would go to Princeton. George and Lew III did not let their fathers down.

And as Gren Paynter, whose father Richard K. Paynter Jr. was also Class of '25, pointed out, George did not let Princeton down. He never missed an Annual Giving roll call. Survivors include George's mother, Salome Thomas; two sisters, Martha Barthel and Sarah Thomas; four nieces, and three nephews.

Those wishing to express sympathy may contribute to Class of '53 Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o Asst. Treas. Frederick E. Crispin Jr., 3 Cedarbrook Terr., Princeton, NJ 08540.

The Class of 1953