Living

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Wayne married Alma Mitchell on 1 Jun 1934. Alma was born on 22 Aug 1908. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Edwin Valejo Thomas, 72, died Sunday following a heart attack at his home, 211 West Eleventh street. (January 28, 1945, buried Jan. 31, 1945 according to Thomas family bible) He had been here four months, moving from Ripley where had lived since 1898. Thomas was born April 14, 1872, at Xenia, Kas., the son of John and Elmira Anson Thomas. He was married to Orpha A. Phenis at Agra Sept. 21, 1904. He was a member of the Christian church and a Knight Pythias. Funeral services will be conducted at the Ripley Christian church Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. by Rev. Romans Smith, Stillwater Christian church pastor. Burial will be in the Ripley cemetery under the direction of Vincent funeral home.
Survivors beside the widow included a son, Wayne H. Thomas of Frederick; two daughters, Mrs. DeeVilla Clark of West Plains, Mo. and Mrs. Lorene Mahurin of Stillwater; a brother French L Thomas of Clovis, N.M. Bearers will be Bill Simma, George Kirk, J.R. Elliott, Hubert Moorman, Bill Hickman and George Saint.

Edward married Orpha Anise Phenis on 21 Aug 1904 in Agra, Lincoln County, Oklahoma. Orpha (daughter of William Riley Phenis and Flora Jane Norton) was born on 28 Sep 1875 in Madison, Greenwood County, Kansas; died on 24 Sep 1953 in Olympia, Thurston County, Washington; was buried in Ripley Oak Park Cemetery, Ripley, Payne County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Address in 1926: RR4, Perkins, OK.

Orpha Anise Phenis was born in Madison, Kansas, September 28, 1875 and died September 24, 1953, at Cresthaven Rest Home, Olympia, Washington, at the age of 77 years, 11 months and 27 days. She was the daughter of William Riley & Flora Jane Phenis. She moved with her parents to Oklahoma at the age of 14 when her father made the run for the opening of Oklahoma Territory in 1889, staking a claim near Guthrie. The family resided there until 1897 when they moved to Perkins.
She taught school two years in Logan County and 14 years in Payne County, including two years at Forest Valley where she was teaching when she was married to Edwin Thomas on September 21, 1904, at Agra, Oklahoma. To this union, five children were born.

The couple lived in Ripley until 1906 when they moved to a farm in Forest Valley community where they resided until a few months before the death of her husband. She was a member of the Christian Church and a charter member of Forest Valley Farm Women's Club and remained a member until she moved to Stillwater. After the husband's death, she lived at 1005 Main Street, Stillwater, until four years ago when she moved to Olympia, Washington, to make her home with her daughter, Lorene.

Her father built the original structure of the present Christian Church at Perkins. Her father, mother, and brother Evart Phenis were charter members of the Church at Perkins when it was organized on Sunday, March 6, 1898, and her membership was transferred to this church about 1899. Her father was one of the first three elders of the church and her brother, Evart, was clerk of the church board in 1899.

Survivors include three children: Wayne H. Thomas, 612 South Ninth, Yukon, Oklahoma; Mrs. Lorene Mahurin, Olympia, Washington; and Mrs. DeeVilla Clark, Stillwater, Oklahoma; one sister, Mrs. Ethel McWethy, 1010 W. Admiral Road, Stillwater, Oklahoma, six grandchildren, two great grandchildren, several nieces and nephews, and a host of friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband on January 28, 1945, and by two children who died in infancy, her parents, and one brother.

Notes:

Known as Riley. The I.G.I. records April 21 as his birthday. This was probably the day he was baptised. Made the "run," with his brother Isaac, on 22 April 1889 and each filed on a 160 acre farm about eight miles north-east of Guthrie, Oklahoma. Using his father's watch he timed his last dose of medicine.

Phenis family information is based in part on Ethel Arretha Phenis bible entries (initiated circa 1930) in THE HOLY BIBLE CONTAINING OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS, translated out of the original tongues: and with the former translations diligently compared and revised. "International" series, self-pronouncing edition-International Bible Press, Philadelphia, USA The John C. Winston Co., Philadelphia. Small pica. octavio. clear type edition 1223 pages plus 17 maps [Holy Bible Self Pronouncing inscribed on spine] green cloth board cover, is in very fragile state. This family Bible, of which edition there is no copy in the Library of Congress, was passed down in the family Mrs. Ethel Arrentha McWethy to her daughter, Faye McWethy. Collection of Judith Keeth of Wichita (1998).

William married Flora Jane Norton on 3 Jul 1873 in Kansas. Flora (daughter of William Norton and Sarah Freer) was born on 8 Jun 1855 in Mohaska County, Iowa; died on 12 Apr 1929 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma; was buried in Ripley Oak Park Cemetery, Ripley, Payne County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From FindAGrave:

Obituary:

Flora Jane Norton was born in Mohaska County, Iowa near the town of Oskaloose, on June 8, 1855 being 73 years, 10 months and 4 days of age at her death, April 12 1929. She was united in marriage to William Riley Phenis, near Madison, Kan., on July 3, 1873 and to this union six children were born, three having preceded her in their infancy to that better world. The other three being Mrs. Ethel McWethy, Mrs. Orpha Thomas, and Evart C. Phenis. Besides these three children she leaves one brother, Charles R. Norton of Madison, Kan., one sister, Mrs. Elnora Lyman, of Emporoa, Kan.; eight grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, a number of relatives and a host of friends to mourn her loss.

Her husband, William Riley Phenis, departed this life on May 26, 1909, just twenty years ago.They both united with the Christian church at Guthrie, Okla., thirty-five years ago, and were both charter members of the Christian churches at Perkins and Agra, Okla.

She lived a faithful Christian life, always devoting her time and strength to the welfare of others, forgetting herself in doing good to them.

She expressed herself as being ready to go and longed to meet her husband and loved ones over there.

The funeral sermon was preached in the Christian church in Ripley by Evangelist J.W. Garner to a crowded house, after which her mortal remains were laid to rest in the Ripley cemetery.