James "Gene" Thomas

James A. “Gene” Thomas died peacefully in Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 81, on June 7, 2016.  He is survived by his wife, Juanita; children, Karen Andrews (Steve), Chuck Thomas (Leslie), and Wendy Marks (Dan); grandchildren, Taylor Hines (Josh), Jordan, Chase, Austin, Macy, Mackenzie, Colin, Maddie, Fisher, Emma, and Wesley; great-granddaughter, Addison James; sister, Peggy Hennis (Gene), sister-in-law, Carol Hainsel (Mike), as well as many nieces and nephews whom he loved dearly.

Gene was born in Meridian, Mississippi on September 4, 1934 and married his high school sweetheart, Juanita Purvis, and they were married for fifty-nine years.  He graduated from Mississippi State University in 1962 with a degree in Electrical Engineering and received his Master’s degree in Technical Management from Florida State University in 1973.  He and Juanita both joined NASA at Cape Canaveral in 1962. Gene worked on the early space programs Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo as a biomedical and communications systems engineer.  He became a Shuttle program Project Engineer and later Director of all Shuttle Launch and Landing Operations. In this position, he served as NASA’s Launch Director, including the tragic Challenger launch in 1986. He retired in 1997 as Deputy Director of the Kennedy Space Center. He was awarded many of NASA’s leadership and equal opportunity medals during his career.

He served in the Mississippi Air National Guard and was an avid reader and loved Sonic foot-long hot dogs.  Gene loved the Lord and leaves a wonderful Christian legacy for his family. His favorite Scripture was Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Gene was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, and was a member of Evangel Baptist Church.

Pallbearers will be Chase Thomas, Colin Thomas, Blayne McCollum, Paul Hennis, and Keith Amster.

Honorary pallbearers will be Fisher Marks, Wesley Andrews, and Todd Hennis.

The family requests memorials be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital , Memphis, Tennessee.

A service was held in Memphis at Evangel Baptist Church on Monday, June 20, 2016. Services will also be held  Tuesday, June 21, 2016, at 2:00 p.m. at Robert Barham Family Funeral Home. Burial will follow at Forest Lawn Cemetery. The family will receive visitors from 1:00 pm until service time at the funeral home.