D3 Grace May Thomas, born April 1866 in Marietta, Ohio, died January 18, 1936 in Omaha, Nebraska; Grace is buried in Forrest Lawn Memorial Park, Omaha, Nebraska. Did not marry.

Grace Thomas, 70, Ex-Realtor, Dead

Omaha World Herald
Sunday, January 19, 1936
Page 4

Miss Grace Thomas, 70, died of a heart attack Saturday morning at her home in the Drake Court apartments. A native of Ohio, she had lived in Omaha 20 years.

Miss Thomas went to Washington, D. C. as a young woman, and was the first of her sex to be licensed there as a a real estate, loan and insurance dealer. She had been a member of the Washington real estate board and of the board of underwriters. She was a charter member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and was active in charitable organizations, and in church and club circles in Omaha.

Funeral services will be held at the Glendale chapel at 2 p. m. Monday, and burial in Forest Lawn Memorial park.

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Omaha World Herald
Sunday, July 13, 1924
Page 13

Caught the Bride's Bouquet at the Wedding of Mrs. Charles G. Dawes

Miss Grace M. Thomas, now of Omaha, caught the bride's bouquet at the wedding of Miss Caro Dana Blymyer, and Charles G. Dawes, in Cincinnati, O., more that twenty-five years ago. "It was the third time that I had caught a bride's bouquet, and it shattered the tradition that the girl who catches the bouquet will be the next bride," laughs Miss Thomas, who declares it broke the spell, and she never has married.

Miss Thomas, prominent in the Omaha chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution; the Omaha Woman's club, and other organizations, has resided in Omaha ten years, coming here from Washington, D.C., where her parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Bradley Thomas, resided for years. Prior to the Washington residence, the General Dawes family, the Thomas family, the Blymyer family, and the famous Fearing family of Ohio had been neighbors and friends around Marietta for more than a century. Hospitable old mansions adorned the banks of the Muskingum river, and friendships were kept alive through generations.

Now that General Charles G. Dawes has been nominated by the republican party as candidate for vice president of the United States, many delightful memories of Ohio days are revived between Mrs. Dawes and Miss Thomas. On July 3, Mrs. Dawes wrote from Washington, D.C., where she and her husband were guests of President and Mrs. Coolidge. The note was written by her own hand, and said:

"My Dear Grace: Thank you for your good wishes. If you could see the accumulation of mail, you would understand why this has to be so brief. Write me when you can. Cordially your friend,
"CARO B. D. DAWES."

Second Good News,

On the same day that Miss Thomas heard of the nomination of General Dawes, she had received word that her nephew, Weston Gage Thomas, the only remaining member of her family beside herself, had won highest honors at the engineering department at Harvard. She told Mrs. Dawes of this honor in sending congratulations on the nomination.

"Mrs. Dawes is one of the sweetest women I have ever known," says Miss Thomas. "She is unassuming and pleasant, and always a sincere friend, entirely unspoiled by the millions of wealth at her command. General Dawes has never fogotten the friends of his youth, and takes especial pleasure in helping the older men who were associates of his father. I can imagine the genuine grief General and Mrs. Dawes have over the death of Calvin Coolidge, the president's son. On the death of their son, Rufus, General and Mrs. Dawes adopted two children, Virginia and Dana.

Mrs. Dawes, as Miss Caro Dana Blymyer, and Miss Grace M. Thomas were schoolmates at Miss Rice's School, Lane Seminary on Walnut Hill, Cincinnati, years ago, before the wedding of young Mr. Dawes and Miss Blymyer.

Miss Thomas has been particularly fortunate in personal acquaintance with eminent men and women workers in many lines. As a child in Marietta, O., she and her school-mates played in the back yard of the Thomas home every Thursday afternoon while Mrs. Thomas entertained the local W.C.T.U., and fervent addresses were made against the liquor traffic.

On removing to the national capital, Mrs. Thomas took her place among the foremost women workers for woman suffrage, and in the fight for prohibition, Miss Grace Thomas was herself the first woman in the District of Columbia to engage in real estate and insurance, and to have a license for this work. She was the only woman on the real estate board, with a membership of 189 men. Out of this experience grew many valuable acquaintances and rare friendships.

Tells of Suffrage Meeting,

"I shall never forget one great convention of woman suffrage leaders in Washington, the last meeting when all the notables were present," relates Miss Thomas. "My mother urged me to pay close attention to every detail, and it is stamped indelibly on my memory. On the platform were Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, then a young woman; Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Julia Ward Howe, Belva Lockwood, once nominated for president of the United States; Lucy Stone Blackwell, Mrs. John A. Logan, Kate Chase Sprague, Kate Field, Fred A. Douglas, the colored leader, and Dr. Mary Walker, in her trousers and coat and high silk hat. A delegation of women prepared to leave to attend a meeting of Daughters of the American Revolution, nearby, and as Dr. Mary Walker picked up her silk hat, Susan B. Anthony said from the platform, 'Sit down, Mary, if you go anywhere, you should go to the Sons of the American Revolution meeting.'

The Cole Family History is a project of Carol M. Gillespie, D.D.S. You can contact Carol at: CGillespi2@aol.comCGillespi2@aol.com. Please enter a Subject of Cole Genealogy, to help us separate your message from spam. The html version was created by Eric Davis.