Lloyd William Thomas, age 91, traveled home to his heavenly father on Tuesday, May 30, 2017.
Lloyd was born March 18, 1926 at Preston, Minnesota, Fillmore County, to Dina (nee Jones) and David J. Thomas. They lived on a farm at Lime Springs, Iowa until 1935 when they moved to Wisconsin.
Lloyd was married to Virginia (nee Reinke) on December 10, 1948 in Dubuque, Iowa. They had four children; Sandra Lee, Daryl Lloyd, Betty Denise, and William David (deceased). They joined Virginia’s three children; Lawrence, Eugene, and Darlene Slinger. Over their 65 years of marriage, they lived in Fox Lake and Columbus, before moving to Beaver Dam in 1955.
After leaving the farm, Lloyd started his lifetime of trucking freight across the country. He began his over-the-road career hauling livestock for Hughes Trucking. He worked for Beaver Transport for twenty years and transported food products for Kraft Foods. He then pulled a tankard for eight years for McMoorhan Trucking. He was also employed by G. G. Barnett Freight for eight years and Northern Hatchery for a couple of years. He and his son, Daryl, had their own trucking business for a time. Lloyd continued to drive until he was 86 years old. If he wasn’t driving, he was “fixing” things. He enjoyed working on trucks and cars. He could “fix” anything.
Lloyd was preceded in death by his wife, Virginia Thomas, his parents and his two brothers, David and Myron Thomas, one son, William David Thomas, one grandson, Steven Lawrence Slinger, and one great grandson, Mathew Yasger.
He is survived by six children, Sandy Thomas and Eugene “Butch” Slinger (Jean Tiedt) of Beaver Dam, Daryl (Doreen Amory) Thomas of Suring, Wisconsin, Lawrence (Sandy) Slinger of White Lake, Wisconsin, and Darlene (Philip) Schultz of Manteo, North Carolina and Betty Thomas; one daughter-in-law, Gloria Bell of Beaver Dam; thirteen grandchildren, Mike Beich, Heather (Steve) Margelofsky, Becky (Nathan) Hodgson, Jeremy (Kandi) Thomas, Aaron (Beth) Milan, Monica Stremkowski, and Ryan Thomas Reuter, Tracey (Jim) Yasger, Darwin and Darin Slinger, Duane (Tracy) Slinger, Justine (Kirk) Robbins, Jason (Courtney) Schultz; 27 great grandchildren; as well as, two great great granddaughters; one sister-in-law, Lily Jones of Beaver Dam; one brother-in-law, Carlos Vogel of Beaver Dam and numerous nieces and nephews;
In honoring our Dad’s wishes, a private graveside inurnment will take place at a later date.
