Martha Tom Smith Thomason, 1938–2024
Martha Tom Smith Thomason was born on June 7, 1938, to Arlie Boyd Smith and Liga Esthaleen “Estha” Holloway Smith, in Dickens County, Texas.
Her sister Arlita Carol was born one year later on June 7, 1939. The family of four moved to Bakersfield, California, in 1940, where her sister Polly Ann was born on June 23, 1941. The family of five returned to Dickens County from 1942 to 1947. In 1947 they returned to California, to the mountains above Ventura, to the town of Miners Oaks, where her dad had a welding job waiting for him.
On May 18, 1948, Martha was thrilled to become the big sister to her brother Arlie B. Smith Jr., and then, on August 25, 1953, Martha’s youngest sister, Susan Ross, was born, and the family was complete.
Martha attended Miners Oaks Elementary School, Matilija Middle School and Nordhoff High School, until 1953. She did not graduate with the Nordhoff Class of 1956. She moved to Texas in the summer of 1954 to live with her grandfather, James Thomas “Papa” Holloway after her grandmother, Martha “Granny” Holloway, died.
In May 1954, she started her junior year at Spur High School in Spur, Texas. She became friends with Jerry “Sonny” Thomason that fall and they started dating in November. After Papa Holloway died in July 1955, Jerry and Martha were married on August 20, 1955, and she graduated after they were married. The couple celebrated their50th Anniversary in August 2005 with their family in California.
They had three children. Their oldest, Debra Jayne, was born in Spur, Texas, in October 1956. The three moved to California in December of 1958 and their second daughter, Tomi Deanne, was born in Ventura, California, in September of 1959. Their son, Darrell Scott, was also born in Ventura, California in October 1965. They were eventually blessed have four grandchildren, Martha and Jerry lived in Texas, California, Colorado, Texas again (when they retired) and finally in Las Vegas, Nevada. They enjoyed a varied life. They farmed the first three years of their marriage, and Jerry worked various odd jobs after they moved to California. In 1971 they started a business together: a machine shop, which also did compressor and pump repair. They sold that business and started a second, selling compressors, pumps and related parts. Then in 1983 they started the third and last business as a contractor for the Unocal Shale Oil Project in Parachute, Colorado. When Unocal finished their research on the feasibility of squeezing oil from the shale, they actually retired.
The Thomasons loved to travel, and did so quite a lot through the years, going to Kenya, Africa, in 1989 on a camera safari. They traveled to Alaska several times to visit with Arlita and family and to fish. They also visited Australia and New Zealand, and they cruised the Caribbean twice. They cruised through the Panama Canal from Puerto Rico to Los Angeles, California. And they cruised from New York City to Montreal, Canada, on a fall foliage tour. They visited Hawaii several times to golf and see the sights. They went on a European river cruise from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Vienna, Austria. They cruised to Hawaii and back again in April 2006 from Los Angeles and back.
From the time Martha and Jerry started dating and got married, Martha never saw herself as just Martha. She was part of the team, Jerry (in their early years Sonny) and Martha.
They made frequent trips to California to visit the kids and grandkids. They loved spending time with family and friends and often combined gatherings with both.
The summer of 2015 Martha and Jerry went to Texas in June to visit family again in July for the Thomason Family Reunion. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in Las Vegas and attended Jerry’s 60th class reunion. The class reunion was hard on Martha, because at the end of August 2015, Jerry was diagnosed with dementia. The following year was filled with lots of doctors’ appointments and a long good-bye.
Martha and Jerry’s son Scott passed away in August 2016.
They moved into an assisted living facility in February 2017.
Jerry was put into the memory care wing in August 2017. Martha would get up every day, fix a Thermos of coffee, pack a tote bag with crossword puzzles and books to read and walk from her apartment to the memory care wing and stay the day with her sweetheart until it was lights out time, then she would walk back to her apartment and prepare for the next day. She was always at his side! He passed away in August 2018.
After Jerry’s passing, Martha did a little bit of traveling as long as Tomi or Debby could go with her.
In February 2020 she finally moved from Las Vegas and divided her time between the homes of her daughters.
On June 10, 2023, the family celebrated her 85th birthday with a small gathering of 63 people at Debby and Roger’s home. She enjoyed her time with her daughters and their families and all the folks who visited or called her.
Martha passed away in Debby’s home on March 21, 2024, at the age of 85.
Martha was preceded in death by her husband, Jerry Dean Thomason; son Darrell Scott Thomason; parents Arlie and Estha Smith; sisters Arlita Carol Hribernick, Polly Ann Hilliker, Susan Ross Valdez-Smith; and numerous other relatives.
Martha is survived by her brother. Arlie B. Smith Jr., and wife, Margaret; daughter, Debra “Debby” Lewicki and husband, Roger; grandchildren Susanna Tom Lewicki; son Jerry Thomas Lewicki; daughter Tomi Deanne Campbell and husband, Jeff; grandchildren Alesia Jayne Campbell and Shaunna Deanna Dandoy and husband, Brent Dandoy, along with several cousins, sister and brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews and friends she considered family.
A graveside memorial will be held at the Spur Memorial Cemetery Saturday, October 26, 2024, at 11:00 a.m.
