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Line 59: − − ==Mayoral service== − Thomas ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Minden in the spring of 1934, having lost a Democratic [[runoff election]] on May 15 to former Mayor [[Henry L. Bridges]], 624 (63 percent) to 366 (37 percent).<ref>"Elect H. L. Bridges Mayor of Minden," ''Minden Herald'', May 18, 1934, p. 1</ref> In that race, Thomas called for a reduction in municipal utility rates and for the establishment of a canning plant to assist residents in the preservation of garden foods.<ref>''Minden Herald'', March 16, 1934, p. 10.</ref> The incumbent that year, [[Connell Fort]], who had preceded future [[governor of Louisiana|Governor]] [[Robert F. Kennon]] as mayor prior to 1926 and who had handily unseated Bridges in 1932, was eliminated in the first primary held on April 10, 1934.<ref>''Minden Herald'', April 13, 1934, p. 1.</ref> − − arch 2, 1936, a had returned to Minden from military service, were opposing lawyers in a legal dispute over a $196 debt deemed collectible to the [[plaintiff]] by City Judge R. Harmon Drew, Sr. The case was appealed unsuccessfully to the [[Louisiana Circuit Courts of Appeal|Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit]] in [[Shreveport, Louisiana|Shreveport]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://casetext.com/case/brown-v-harvey|title=''Brown v. Harvey''|publisher=casetext.com|date=April 5, 1950|accessdate=March 7, 2015}}</ref><ref>The $196 debt dispute seems like a small claim today, but in 1950, it would have been the equivalent of more than %2,000 in 2017 dollars.</ref> − − Thomas remained active in local Democratic politics. From 1948 until his death, he served as the Webster Parish attorney for the inheritance collector and maintained his own law practice.<ref name=agan/> In 1954, Thomas ran a weak third in the race for Minden city judge, a position vacated by the incumbent R. Harmon Drew, Sr. Attorney Cecil C. Lowe defeated Alton Eugene Frazier (1922-2001) in a runoff election for the judgeship.<ref>"Lowe Leads in Judge Race", ''Minden Herald'', July 30, 1954, p. 1.</ref> − − Thomas was not the first Minden mayor to have a background in journalism; so did [[W. Jasper Blackburn]], who served as a Democrat from 1855 to 1856. Blackburn became a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] during the [[American Civil War]] and served briefly in the [[United States House of Representatives]] and the Louisiana State Senate.<ref>John A. Agan, "Profile 2007: MPH story goes back more than 150 years," ''Minden Press-Herald'', undated 2007</refJ. Frank Colbert, a former state representative who served as mayor from 1944 to 1946, also had newspaper experience. Connell Fort was also a newspaperman during much of his working career. Twenty-six years after Thomas left the office of mayor, still another former newspaperman, Tom Colten, became the city's first of thus far three Republican mayors. − + − + Line 89:
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A [[Southern Baptist]], Thomas presented [[Bible]]s to high school students upon their graduations. Upon his death in Minden at the age of eighty-four, eleven days short of eight6y-five years, services were held at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Minden, then a new sanctuary, with the Reverend T. W. Leachman officiating. Thomas is interred at historic Minden Cemetery.<ref name=agan/>
A [[Southern Baptist]], Thomas presented [[Bible]]s to high school students upon their graduations. Upon his death in Minden at the age of eighty-four, eleven days short of eight6y-five years, services were held at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Minden, then a new sanctuary, with the Reverend T. W. Leachman officiating. Thomas is interred at historic Minden Cemetery.<ref name=agan/>
==Personal life and death==
==Personal life and death==
A [[Southern Baptist]], Thomas presented [[Bible]]s to high school students upon their graduations. Services were held at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Minden, then a new sanctuary, with the Reverend T. W. Leachman (1907-1989) officiating. Thomas is interred at the historic Minden Cemetery.<ref name=agan/>
A [[Southern Baptist]], Thomas presented [[Bible]]s to high school students upon their graduations. He died in Minden eleven days short of his 85th birthday. Services were held at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Minden, then a new sanctuary, with the Reverend T. W. Leachman (1907-1989) officiating. Thomas is interred at the historic Minden Cemetery.<ref name=agan/>
Thomas's obituary does not mention his former wife, Alice Singletary LeBlanc (1890-1964), from whom he was divorced. The couple was listed in the [[1920 United States Census|1920 census]] as living together in Baton Rouge, when she was twenty-nine, and he was forty-three. They were married for at least eleven years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gl=ROOT_CATEGORY&rank=1&new=1&so=3&MSAV=1&gss=ms_r_f-2_s&gsfn=Alice+Singletary&gsln=Thomas.&msbpn__ftp=Baton+Rouge%2C+Louisiana&cpxt=0&catBucket=rstp&uidh=000&cp=0|title=Alice S. Thomas (David W. Thomas)|publisher=search.ancestry.com|accessdate=March 10, 2015}}</ref> Alice and her second husband, Dr. J. Hall LeBlanc (1880-1952).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=LeBlanc&GSmn=Hall&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=80592410&df=all&|title=Dr. J. Hall LeBlanc|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 10, 2015}}</ref> are interred in the same plot at Roselawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Singletary&GSiman=1&GScnty=1125&GRid=80582687&|title=Alice Singletary LeBlanc (Thomas)|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 8, 2015}}</ref> David Thomas was survived by three daughters, all since deceased: (1) Gwendolyn Singletary-Thomas Neitzel (1910-2000), is interred with her husband, Robert Stuart Neitzel (1911-1980), and their son, Stuart Allen Neitzel (1948-2013), at Cushman Cemetery in Marksville in Avoyelles Parish;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=100414799|title=Gwendolyn Singletary-Thomas Neitzel|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 8, 2015}}</ref> (2) Sarah Allen Thomas Fasce (1911-2006) of Baton Rouge, who subsequently died in Charlottesville, [[Virginia]], is interred in the LeBlanc plot at Roselawn in Baton Rouge; and (3) Singletary "Terry" Thomas Whipple (1917-2008) of Baton Rouge, named for both parents, is also interred in the LeBlanc plot at Roselawn,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=97754536|title=Singletary "Terry" Thomas Whipple|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 8, 2015}}</ref> A son, David Thomas, Jr., lived in Des Plaines, [[Illinois]], in 1961, at the time of his father's death,<ref name=agan/> but resided in Sun City, [[Arizona]], in 2006, at the time of the death of his sister, Sarah, who was named for their paternal grandmother. The obituaries of neither Gwendolyn nor Sarah mention their father.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=sarah-allen-thomas-fasce&pid=20350318|title=Sarah Allen Thomas Fasce|publisher=''[[The Advocate (Louisiana)|Baton Rouge Morning Advocate]]''|date=December 19, 2006|accessdate=March 8, 2014}}</ref>
Thomas's obituary does not mention his former wife, Alice Singletary LeBlanc (1890-1964), from whom he was divorced. The couple was listed in the [[1920 United States Census|1920 census]] as living together in Baton Rouge, when she was twenty-nine, and he was forty-three. They were married for at least eleven years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gl=ROOT_CATEGORY&rank=1&new=1&so=3&MSAV=1&gss=ms_r_f-2_s&gsfn=Alice+Singletary&gsln=Thomas.&msbpn__ftp=Baton+Rouge%2C+Louisiana&cpxt=0&catBucket=rstp&uidh=000&cp=0|title=Alice S. Thomas (David W. Thomas)|publisher=search.ancestry.com|accessdate=March 10, 2015}}</ref> Alice and her second husband, Dr. J. Hall LeBlanc (1880-1952).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=LeBlanc&GSmn=Hall&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=80592410&df=all&|title=Dr. J. Hall LeBlanc|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 10, 2015}}</ref> are interred in the same plot at Roselawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Singletary&GSiman=1&GScnty=1125&GRid=80582687&|title=Alice Singletary LeBlanc (Thomas)|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 8, 2015}}</ref> David Thomas was survived by three daughters, all since deceased: (1) Gwendolyn Singletary-Thomas Neitzel (1910-2000), is interred with her husband, Robert Stuart Neitzel (1911-1980), and their son, Stuart Allen Neitzel (1948-2013), at Cushman Cemetery in Marksville in Avoyelles Parish;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=100414799|title=Gwendolyn Singletary-Thomas Neitzel|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 8, 2015}}</ref> (2) Sarah Allen Thomas Fasce (1911-2006) of Baton Rouge, who subsequently died in Charlottesville, [[Virginia]], is interred in the LeBlanc plot at Roselawn in Baton Rouge; and (3) Singletary "Terry" Thomas Whipple (1917-2008) of Baton Rouge, named for both parents, is also interred in the LeBlanc plot at Roselawn,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=97754536|title=Singletary "Terry" Thomas Whipple|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 8, 2015}}</ref> A son, David Thomas, Jr., lived in Des Plaines, [[Illinois]], in 1961, at the time of his father's death,<ref name=agan/> but resided in Sun City, [[Arizona]], in 2006, at the time of the death of his sister, Sarah, who was named for their paternal grandmother. The obituaries of neither Gwendolyn nor Sarah mention their father.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=sarah-allen-thomas-fasce&pid=20350318|title=Sarah Allen Thomas Fasce|publisher=''Baton Rouge Morning Advocate''|date=December 19, 2006|accessdate=March 8, 2014}}</ref>
==References==
==References==
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Baptists]]
[[Category:Baptists]]