Garnett Jett Thomas -- Administrative Officer and Accountant

 

Garnett Jett Thomas was born on July 27, 1920 in the Farmington community of Graves County, Kentucky, the youngest child of Pinkney Madison Thomas and Ethel Myrtis Drinkard Thomas.  His three older siblings were his sister, Bertie May Thomas, born in 1906 and his two brothers, Audree Madison Thomas who was born in 1901 and Cave Johnson Thomas who was born in 1913. Both his brothers became ministers. His father was a native of Trigg County, Kentucky and his mother a native of Graves County. Garnett was only 18 when he lost his father.

Garnett moved to Paducah, Kentucky where he resided with his sister and was employed as a clerk in the office of the superintendent of the Illinois Central Railroad.  He volunteered for service in the Naval Reserve in 1942 and was ordered to report for duty on November 7, 1942 at Davisville, Rhode Island. Serving on naval ships in the Pacific during the war, he received the American Asiatic Pacific, the China Service, WWII Victory, American Defense, Philippine Liberation and WWII Occupation Campaign medals as well as two Bronze Star medals.  Near the end of the war he attended the U. S. Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s school at the University of Notre Dame and received his commission as an Ensign.

After the war Garnett attended Lambuth College in Jackson, Tennessee where he graduated in 1947.  He went on to attend Mississippi State University where he received his master’s degree in business administration in 1949.

After his graduation from Mississippi State, he accepted a position with the university as an accountant and later appointed as the administrative officer and chief accountant for the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and its eleven branch stations across the state of Mississippi. He was a member of the President's Club at MSU, a director and past president of the government Employees Credit Union, on the advisory board of the National Bank of Commerce, a Rotarian, where he served as president and Rotary District governor, listed in the "Who's Who in the World", "Who's Who in Finance and Industry", and "Distinguished Americans by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England".

On March 26, 1948, Garnett married his first wife, Mabel Katherine Gardner of Jackson, Tennessee. Mabel was a graduate of the West Tennessee Business College. Garnett and Mabel settled in Starkville, Mississippi where Mabel was a piano teacher. She died at the age of 60 on September 29, 1979 in Starkville. She was buried in the Highland Memorial Gardens in Jackson, Tennessee.  Subsequently Garnett married his second wife, Robbie Nell Penton, a native of Hissop, Alabama. Garnett and Nell were married for 25 years prior to his death.

Garnett had no children by either of his two wives.  He was the stepfather of two sons, Vernon Bice, Jr. and Michael Bice and a daughter Gena Bice Black, children of his wife, Nell.

Garnett died on September 7, 2006 in Starkville, Mississippi at the age of 80.  He was buried in the Oktibbeha Memorial Gardens Park in Starkville.  Nell died May 18, 2014 in Huntsville, Alabama at the age of 78. She was buried in the Oktibbeha Memorial Gardens.

 Garnett J. Thomas Tombstone

LINEAGE: (Garnett Jett Thomas was the son of Pinkney Madison and Ethel Myrtis Drinkard Thomas and grandson of Starkie Duprey and Sarah Frances Pugh Thomas.  Starkie Duprey was the eleventh child of Perry and Elizabeth Bridges Thomas. Perry was the third child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.  Elizabeth was the sixth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)