On most Friday nights, Evelyn Thomas, formerly of East Greenville and for the past seven years a resident at Frederick Living, Frederick, Pa., can be found with her bridge group. Mrs. Thomas, who will be 100 on Oct. 13, still concentrates, with canny precision, on the bidding and strategy essential to playing a top-notch game. Bridge is one of her passions.
Born in 1915, Evelyn (nee) Snyder graduated from Pennsburg High School in 1933. She married William A. Thomas, also a Pennsburg graduate, in 1937. They settled in East Greenville, only a bit more than a stone’s throw from the house she grew up in, and had two children, Alan, who now lives in Malvern, and Cristine (Dixon), now living in Wilmington, N.C. There are now six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Mr. Thomas died in 2007.
Mrs. Thomas credits her bridge acuity to “renewing a very large book about bridge from the library until I finished it.” Now, her card-playing partners say that she keeps them in line by playing by the rules.
Although Mrs. Thomas’ early work experience included a stint at Rosenau’s clothing factory in Red Hill and also at Kline’s drug store in East Greenville, she also sold tickets occasionally at Pennsburg’s Aurora Theater where her father, William I. Snyder, was the movie-house’s first co-owner and manager dating back to the silent-film days. Her favorite pursuit, however, was teaching organ lessons at Clemmer’s Music Store in Harleysville, where she had previously taken lessons. Her teaching career has spanned 40 years.
Mrs. Thomas still plays a “prelude” selection for non-denominational worship services at Frederick about once a month, and her weekly practice sessions often draw an appreciative audience of staff and residents.
Mrs. Thomas attributes her 100 years of life to her parents, to raising her own children well, and to enjoying her family. “They bring me much joy,” she said. She is also the oldest living member of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Pennsburg.
Frederick Living is pleased to celebrate Evelyn Thomas’ 100th birthday with her on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 2 p.m. with family and friends.
