William (Bill) Ray Thomas

William Ray Thomas passed away on August 5, 2026 of Congestive Heart Failure under VNA Hospice Care at the Smith Health Center in Santa Barbara, CA He is also known as Bill Thomas, Billy Ray Thomas; and as a teacher at San Marcos High School and Santa Barbara City College as Mr. Thomas. He is also known as Dad, Pops, Grandpa, and Gramps. My life was intertwined with this gentle soul as my friend and my husband for 40 years; and while he now resides in Heaven, he remains embedded in the fabric of my heart and soul forever. His ashes will be dispersed off the coast of Santa Barbara in early September. Bill chose to write his own obituary where he suggested his wishes in place of a memorial service. –Diana Thomas

I, William (Bill) Thomas am writing my own obituary because I decided that I would save my survivors the chore of having to try to remember and figure out what to include in an obituary for me. I do not know when I will die, but my health has been declining for a few years now and that gave me pause for reviewing and reflecting on my life as a whole. I began writing this in 2025, and reviewed and completed writing it in early 2026.

I was born on July 31, 1934 in Colorado City, Texas. When I was seven years old, I and my two brothers, David and Harold, moved with our father, William Clinton Thomas and mother, Ora Lee Thomas, to Arcadia, California. The time was at the beginning of W.W. II, and I remember watching P-38 fighter planes fly in the always-clear blue skies above Arcadia (long before SMOG existed). I remember the war years as ones where I helped grow vegetables in the family’s Victory garden; I helped raise the chickens and rabbits; I collected newspaper for paper-drives; and I bought war stamps at school. Many things were in short supply because of the war, and I yearned for bananas and pineapple juice, and stood in long lines to purchase Double Bubble chewing gum. (Only one piece of gum allowed per person, so I remember chewing the same piece of gum for three days).

When I was in the sixth grade my family moved to Monrovia, where I attended school, and when I was not going to school, I worked with my dad at his gas station. I sold gasoline to cars driving along Huntington Drive. (Route 66). I continued working at the gas station until I went away to UCSB for college.

When I was a freshman at Monrovia High School, it was discovered that I had a very serious illness—hyperthyroidism. I then began two years of treatment and recovery that greatly affected my life. (I missed two years of school attendance.) After recovery I performed very well at Monrovia High School; I did well academically and I won various speech contests and was active in student government. After high school I attended UCSB, where I majored in physical science and minored in math. In college I continued to be active in student government.

While attending UCSB I married my first wife, Cynthia Billig (now deceased), moved permanently to Santa Barbara, graduated in 1957 from UCSB with Highest Honors, did graduate work in education and in physics, got a teaching credential, and was hired as the first Chemistry teacher at the just-opening San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara. Cynthia and I had two great sons, Lindon K. Thomas and Matthew C. Thomas.

During my teaching career, I attended summer sessions at USC, Univ. of Washington, and for four summers I attended Oregon State University, where I obtained a Masters degree in science. For thirty-six years I continued teaching Chemistry, Physics and all the other science courses at San Marcos High School. At various times during those years I also taught physics labs and science teaching procedures at UCSB. I retired from teaching at SMHS in 1995, and the following year I began teaching physics part-time at Santa Barbara City College, where I taught for another fourteen years. During my fifty years of teaching science, I estimate that I taught approximately 10,000 students.

While teaching at SMHS, I met and married my second wife, Diana Biffle Geuss. Diana is a treasure! I continually marvel at the great fortune and blessings that I have received as her husband. She is definitely the love of my life! As of this writing, we have been married for 38 years. During those years, we have travelled throughout the world (favorite place was Hau’ula on the island of Oahu), and hiked throughout the world (favorite hike was in the Swiss Alps), and completed various writing projects (I wrote an academic paper published in Physics Essays called “The Overlap Universe”; as well as writing 112 short stories that Diana compiled for me and put into a book for our family.) We have prayed together and played together– including 100 games of Rummikub during Covid “lockdown.” I loved our yearly treks to our 3 Marriott Timeshares (Newport Coast in California, Park City in Utah, and Palm Desert in California)–we had strategically selected those locations to bring us to ocean, mountains, and desert to nourish our souls.

At various times in my life I engaged in gardening, jogging, hiking, cross-country skiing, bicycling, golfing, writing, drawing, painting (pastels and watercolor), beading, silk-screening, wine making, coin collecting, and especially, throughout my entire life, reading. Other activities during my life were these: I was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, I was active in Indian Guides with my two sons, I was an Episcopalian who, with Cynthia, attended at various times, Trinity Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara, St. Michaels Episcopal Church in Isla Vista and Christ the King Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara. My wife Diana and I attended Chapel of the Hills (later renamed Hope Community Church),Trinity Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara, and St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Isla Vista. When Covid hit, Diana and I started watching Hope Community Church online. I guess you could say that regarding churches, we had come full circle.

I am survived by my best friend and helpmate, Diana Thomas, my sons Lindon Thomas (Karen) and Matthew Thomas, my grandchildren Cole Thomas, Clay Thomas and Melanie Monaco (Sam), one great-grandson (Leo) one great-granddaughter (Delia), sister-in-law Bonnie Thomas, as well as many cousins, nieces and nephews along with grand-nieces and grand-nephews. I remember in love those family members who passed before me: David Thomas (Brother), Harold Thomas (Brother), Beth Thomas (daughter-in-law), Pat Thomas (Sister-in-law) and other family and friends too many to name here.

I want to leave behind some thoughts about kindness. It feels like this planet is lacking in kindness right now. With this in mind, let me suggest that in place of a memorial service, you perform the following “mini-memorial” in my name: Deliberately think kind thoughts about someone (not me), perhaps someone you have not thought about for a while. As soon as you get a chance, say some kind words to someone. Then, when you have the opportunity, do something kind for someone. You decide what constitutes for you thoughts, words and deeds of kindness. I believe that surely there must be a Spiritual Law of Kindness. A Law that causes all of your thoughts, words, and deeds of kindness to accumulate together to make the Universe a better place. Quantum Mechanics tells us that the changing condition of an object at one location (like a subatomic particle) may have an instantaneous relationship effect on a similar object at great distance.This relationship is referred to as “entanglement”. If entanglement can happen instantaneously in the physical world in a way that we really do not understand, then it seems to me that spiritual events may also happen in ways we do not understand. I believe that when good things happen, those good things can add together, instantaneously, to change the cosmos in a positive way. I am requesting of each of you that collectively we add more kindness into the world.

Because of all of you, I have had a wonderful life. Thank you, and blessings to you all.

–Bill Thomas 2026