CLAFLIN — Marie Lillian Thomas, 78, died March 17 at Presbyterian Manor in Salina. Born Jan. 6, 1936 in Brooklyn, N.Y., she was the daughter of John and Dorothy (Brown) Rigat. She attended grade school and graduated high school in 1953 in Brooklyn, N.Y. She worked as a secretary at a corporate law firm in New York until she met and married William P. “Bill” Thomas who was a sergeant in the U.S. Army.  They were married on Aug. 8, 1954, at Our Lady of Miracles Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, N.Y. They left New York on Aug. 13, 1954, to travel to Kansas where Bill was from and settled on a farm south of Claflin, where they farmed and raised cattle. She worked for the Great Bend Tribune for 10 years as a teletype operator and proof reader, 10 years for Ruskin Manufacturing, and 20 years as a special education bus driver.  
Mrs. Thomas was a member of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Altar Society, in which she served two terms as president, and Daughters of Isabella, all of Claflin.
Survivors include her husband, Bill Thomas, of the home; two sons, Steve Thomas of Pratt and Tony Thomas of Claflin; one daughter, Susan Blackshere and her husband Tom, of Salina; two sisters, Dottie Savino and Laura Marra, both of Orlando, Fla.; and two grandchildren, Brett and Brock Thomas. She was preceded in death by two brothers, John Rigat and Richard Rigat; one infant brother, Victor Rigat; and one sister, Marilyn Rigat.
Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Claflin with Father Pascal Klein officiating. Burial will be at the Claflin Cemetery. 

: A vigil followed by an Altar Society, and D of I Rosary …

Delete- Mergewill be held at  7 p.m. on Thursday at the church.  Visitation will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday at Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home. Memorials are suggested to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church or Golden Belt Humane Society in care of the funeral home. Condolences may be sent and notice viewed at www.nicholsonrickefh.net.

Funeral arrangements provided by
Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home*
Box 146
Hoisington, Ks.  67544
Great Bend (Kan) Tribune, March 19, 2014