Helen Ruth Thomas

Helen Ruth Thomas, 94,long time resident of Rock Hill SC, passed peacefully at her home on November 4, 2021 after along illness. Helen was born September 27, 1927 in Tulare, South Dakota, one of 9 children of Mabel (Glidden) and Charles Ernster.  She met and married Charles (Doc) Thomas in Waterloo, Iowa in 1946. Their union produced seven children, three of whom died at birth or soon after. Helen and Doc became members of the Baha’i Faith in Waterloo in 1955.  Doc received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa in 1956 and soon thereafter the family moved to Laurinburg, NC, where Doc had one of the town's first intergrated waiting rooms and where Helen got to meet Jazz pioneer and fellow-Baha'i, John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie. In 1968 the family moved to Rock Hill, SC, where they again forged professional and personal relationships across racial lines.  Shortly after moving to Rock Hill, Doc and Helen became intimately involved with new efforts to teach the Baha’i Faith on a large scale across the Deep South.  Initially resulting in the enrollment of some 10,000 new Baha’is in South Carolina in the winter of 1970-1971, it was a breakthrough that forever changed the American Baha’i community.  From early on, Helen came to view the spiritual receptivity of South Carolinians as a “vein of gold”, and she dedicated the rest of her life to mining it, serving in a number of administrative capacities in the Baha’i community and distinguishing herself as a tireless teacher of the faith.  Over many years she visited countless Baha’is in towns and hamlets across South Carolina, never learning to drive but with an uncanny recollection of directions to the most isolated rural homes.  Known as the mother of the Baha’i community in Rock Hill and surrounding areas, for decades Helen welcomed people of all backgrounds to her home with love, nurturing, and acceptance.  Although not highly educated, she was a devoted student of the Sacred Word, and using the scriptures as text she taught a generation of young Baha’is in Rock Hill to read with understanding and confidence.  Besides serving her family and faith community, Helen’s occupation was as a seamstress, spending hours a day at her machine making and altering garments for her “ladies”.  Even in her final years, when ill health kept her from her normal activities, Helen continued to serve, sharing her faith with her Hospice caregivers and good-looking firemen who helped put her back in bed when she would take a tumble!

Helen was predeceased by her beloved husband, Doc and her granddaughter, Anna Bumgardner. She is survived by her children, Carmella Bumgardner of Pfafftown, NC, Charles (Nancy)Thomas of Shelbyville, KY, Doug Thomas of Denver, NC and Dawn Thomas of Charlotte, NC; her grandchildren, Sarah Albritton, Charlie Thomas, Meagan Thomas, two great grandchildren and a host of other family members, friends, and “spiritual children” across the country and around the world.

Graveside services will be held 10:30am Sunday, November 7, 2021 at Rock Hill Memorial Gardens.