The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, January 11, 1995            TAG: 9501110343
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 
DATELINE: EURE                               LENGTH: Short :   33 lines

HOWARD D. THOMAS

Howard Dempsey Thomas, 77, of Route 1, a retired electrician, died Jan. 9, 1995, in Obici Hospital.

Mr. Thomas was born in Nansemond County, Va., son of the late Bessie Harrell and James J. Thomas Sr. He was retired from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard after 33 years. He was a member of Cool Springs Baptist Church, Eure, N.C., and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post (NU)993, Harold Treakle Memorial Post.

Survivors include his wife, Madeline Davis Thomas; five daughters, Joyce M. Fairclough of Erie, Pa., Shirley M. Gilpin and Patricia M. Rosser, both of Portsmouth, Jean M. Fletcher of Winton, N.C., and Catherine Williams of Chesapeake; two sons, William T. McClenny of Splendora, Texas and John L. McClenny of Durham, N.C.; two sisters, Joyce Ann T. Sandman of Denver, Colo. and Margaret Faye T. Babb of Suffolk; two brothers, James J. Thomas Jr. of Suffolk and Robert E. Thomas of Windsor, Va.; 17 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.

A funeral will be conducted at 2 p.m. Thursday in Hill Funeral Home, Suffolk, by the Rev. Horace Culpepper. Burial will be in Meadowbrook Memorial Gardens. Visitation will be in the funeral home from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. today and at other times the family will be at the home of Shirley Gilpin, 1220 Tatem Ave., Portsmouth. Memorials may be sent to the Gates County Rescue Squad, Gates County, N.C.

KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY by CNB