Source: Union-News (Springfield, MA)
GOSHEN, MA – Anthony J. Thomas, 83, of 2 Cape St. died Sunday at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton. He worked at Stanley Home Products of Easthampton, and retired in 1979. He also was a custodian at the Goshen School and Town Hall for 30 years. Born in East Cambridge, he came here in 1933 with the Civilian Conservation Corps. He was a founder of the town’s Fire Department and Recreation Unlimited, and vice president of the Hillside Agricultural Society for 35 years. He belonged to the Historical Society and the Hathaway Family of America, and was a longtime member of the Democratic Town Committee. He leaves his wife of 62 years, the former Annie Hathaway; four sons, Anthony Jr. and Robert of Goshen, Richard of Haydenville, and Henry of Huntington; two daughters, Evelyn Kellogg Culver of Goshen, and Katherine Bates of Chesterfield; four sisters, Frances Thomas, Ann Thomas, and Eleanor Roberts of Somerville, and Theresa Kilam of Marlboro; 20 grandchildren. Another daughter, Mary Ann, died in 1956. The funeral will be Wednesday at Childs Funeral Home and St. Mary’s Church, both in Haydenville, with the burial in Goshen Cemetery next spring. The calling hours at the funeral home are this afternoon and evening, and memorial contributions may be made to the Ambulance Fund, in care of Frances Dresser, Main Street, Goshen, 01032.