Josie Thomas

Josephine Baker Thomas December 17, 1925 – June 11, 2018 Josie Baker Thomas, 92, of Wilson passed away Monday. Her funeral service will be conducted at 2:00 p.m. Thursday at Joyner’s Funeral Home, 4100 Raleigh Road Parkway, Wilson. Interment will follow in Evergreen Memorial Park, Wilson. The Rev. Gary Walling will officiate. The family will receive friends Thursday prior to the service from 1:00 – 1:45 and other times at the home. Josie was born in Wilson County in the height of the depression. Her parents were Hattie Ellis of Edgecombe County and Harry Baker of Wilson County. After the death of her father, she spent the bulk of her childhood in Edgecombe County raised by her mother and beloved step-father, Tommy Harrell. At the age of seventeen she met Curtis Thomas and they were later married on August 19, 1944. They moved to Wilson County and she lived there for the rest of her life. Josie got a Batcheler’s degree from Atlantic Christian College and a master’s degree from East Carolina University. She retired as a job counselor from the Employment Security Commission of Wilson. Josie loved gardening, canning and freezing fruits and vegetables for as long as she was able. Most of all she cherished her family, and friends and she most enjoyed her weekly outing to Abram’s in Pinetops with her “Kissin Cousins” and was often accompanied in later years by her special friend, Margarette Bridgers. Josie adored her church family at First Christian Church, where she was a long-time member. Josie is survived by her sons, Eric Thomas and wife, Helen Wolfsen of Durham, Michael Thomas and wife, Joan of Wilson; daughter, Cherye Bridgers and husband, Wallace of Wilson; grandchildren, Holly T. McLaughlin and husband, William of Charlotte, Eason J. Thomas of Raleigh, and Leslie G. Baker of Raleigh; great-grandson, Oliver McLaughlin of Charlotte; sister, Aldine Smith of Greenville, and many nieces and nephews, and cousins. She was preceded in death by her husband, Curtis Thomas and sister, Virginia Hearne. The family would like to express their thanks to the Service League Inpatient Hospice Center where she received incredible compassion and care. Flowers are welcomed, or please consider memorials in Josie’s memory to Service League Inpatient Hospice Center, 920 Wellness Drive, Greenville, North Carolina 27834 or Living Stones Endowment Fund, First Christian Church, PO Box 2702, Wilson, North Carolina 27834. Condolences may be directed to Joyner’s Funeral Home at www.joyners.net.