Funeral Services for Agnes Cottingham Thomas, age 92, of Dallas, formerly of Brownwood will be held at 2:00 p.m. Sunday October 10, 2010 at the Davis Morris Funeral Home Chapel, interment to follow in Eastlawn Memorial Park under the direction of Davis Morris Funeral Home. Visitation will be held from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon at the funeral home.
Agnes was born January 17, 1918 in San Augustine, Texas to Myrtle Thacker and William Cottingham, as the youngest of four children by several years. The family soon moved to the Panhandle of Texas where they lived until her father was killed by a hit-and-run driver, leaving Agnes to fend for herself since her three older siblings had already left home and her mother had no means of support. She finished high school at age 16 and immediately enrolled at West Texas State where she mopped floors and waited tables for room, board and tuition. After graduation at age 19, she went to work teaching in the Floydada school system where she met and married the football coach, Brady Thomas, formerly of Brownwood on June 6, 1940. Their son and only child, Tom, was born in November, 1941.
During WW II, Brady was a Naval gunnery officer on a transport vessel in the South Pacific, while Agnes worked as the chief administrator of the government’s high security helium extraction plant at Excel, just north of Amarillo. After the war, they lived in several towns in west Texas where he continued to coach and she taught commercial subjects in high school. Brady was a fourth generation Brownwood resident, and since 1950, they had maintained a small ranch west of town and spent most of their holidays and summers in Brownwood. They retired in 1974 and moved back to Brownwood which they had always regarded as their family home, and where many of their family and friends lived. Both were faithful and active members of the Austin Avenue Church of Christ.
Agnes is survived by one child, Tom Thomas of Dallas and his wife, Beth Ann Blackwood; four grandchildren, Tiffanye, Jennifer, Tom II, and Amanda; and three great grandchildren, Rikki, Hanley and Hunter.
She was preceded in death by her parents and husband Brady who died in 2003.
Condolences may be made to the family at www.davismorrisfuneralhome.com
Davis Morris Funeral Home in charge of arrangements
