Joseph Terry Thomas

Col. (ret.) Joseph Terry Thomas, after a long battle with cancer, passed away at his home in Blue Ridge, Georgia on December 16, 2018. Born April 19, 1947 in Ducktown, Tennessee, Col. Thomas came of age in the deep mountain forests along the borders of Tennessee and Georgia. His father and mother, Roy Robert and Ida Mae Thomas, raised him and his siblings, Robert, Peggy, and Ronald in McCaysville, GA. Although he was not the youngest son, he lived to grieve the passing of his entire family.

Terry (as he was known to family and dear friends) graduated from West Fannin High School in 1965. Two years later, on March 19th in Decatur, Georgia, he married Patricia Ann Swaney, his loving wife for over fifty years. In 1969 his daughter, Rebecca, was born, and the next year he earned his commission as a Second Lieutenant. Shortly thereafter, his talent, character, and expertise earned him an appointment to the 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg (1971-73), where, as a Green Beret, he received the Master Parachutist Badge, a rare distinction. As a Green Beret, he served in the Vietnam conflict.

Terry's son, Joseph T. Thomas, Jr., was born in 1972, the year before Terry left the Green Berets and transitioned to The Quartermaster Corps, the U.S. Army's oldest logistics branch. He remained a Quartermaster until his retirement, his varied tours of duty taking him across the United States and around the world, serving in Korea and Germany and Honduras and Panama and Saudi Arabia and a host of other locales. During his career as an Army officer, Terry earned a Master of Science from the Florida Institute of Technology in Material Acquisition Management. Among his many commendations, he was awarded two Silver and three Bronze Stars.

On December 14, 1999 Terry retired as a Colonel, having served twenty-nine years. After his retirement ceremony, held at the U.S. Army Petroleum Center in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Terry and Patricia retired to their childhood home in the mountains of North Georgia, where he and his wife have lived for the past nineteen years.

Col. (ret.) Joseph Terry Thomas is survived by his wife, Patricia Ann, his two children, Rebecca and Joseph, and two granddaughters, Lauren Elizabeth and Samantha Buddenbaum.