Alma W. Thomas

FALMOUTH – Our beloved mother, stepmother, grandmother, and great-grandmother died peacefully at home on Jan. 29, 2026, surrounded by her loving family. She was a month and a half away from her 103rd birthday.

Alma Regina Wilkes was born in Yonkers, N.Y., March 15, 1923. She was the ninth of 10 siblings born to Robert Walter Wilkes and Elizabeth Mary McGuire Wilkes. During the Depression, her family relocated to the Bronx where she graduated from Saint Nicholas of Tolentine High School in 1940. Following graduation, Alma began working at the Canteen Company as an Executive Assistant in the Chrysler building in Manhattan. She often reminisced about her years living and working in New York City in the 1940s and described those years as a very exciting time in her life. She loved going to dance to the big bands of the era, attending Frank Sinatra concerts, and had wonderful memories of being in Times Square on V-J Day.

In 1951, Alma married Dr. Joseph James Thomas, who was a widower and father to five children. Joe was Director of Research at S.D. Warren Paper Mill. Together, they had two more children and created a wonderful life together in Westbrook, Maine. Raising seven children and volunteering in community organizations kept Alma very busy in those years. She loved spending summers at their camp “By Dam“ at Little Sebago Lake, boating, fishing, and swimming. She and Joe enjoyed an active social life, often entertaining neighbors and business associates. They also spent time at their hunting camps on Douglas Mountain.

After Joe retired, he and Alma relocated to Sun City, Ariz., where they spent the next 35 years. Alma played golf several times a week, and volunteered, teaching English as a Second Language, and working with Alzheimer’s patients at an adult daycare, which provided respite for caretakers. She and Joe bought an RV and were active members of the Sun City Trailer Club, traveling all over the USA, Canada, and Mexico, including driving up the Alcan highway. They spent summers in Logan, Utah, attending classes at Utah State University.

In 1981, they spent a few months in Brazil as Joe served as a consultant with International Executive Service Corp. They also took three world cruises, including one with Semester at Sea. Alma always tried to learn some of the language of the countries she was visiting, and especially excelled at Portuguese and Russian. Alma‘s grandchildren and great-grandchildren have wonderful memories of visiting “Nana and Poppy” in Sun City, picking and squeezing the fresh oranges, climbing the grapefruit trees, and enjoying Nana‘s ice cream cones with sprinkles.

Joe died in 2001 and Alma moved to OceanView of Falmouth in Falmouth, Maine in 2012. During her last 14 years, Alma enjoyed chamber music concerts, dramas, lectures, musical outings to the Portland Symphony and Bowdoin College, and playing bridge, poker, and pool at OceanView. Her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, as well as nieces and nephews were frequent visitors and telephoned her often. She enjoyed excellent health, both mentally and physically, and was recently celebrated as Falmouth’s oldest citizen. Many of her fellow OceanView residents considered Alma to be an inspiration!

Alma was preceded in death by her father and mother; her brothers Robert and Walter, her sisters Betty, Evelyn, Winnie, Marie, Marjie, Julie, and Loretta, as well as their spouses. She was also preceded in death by her children, Joe Jr. and his wife Vida, Gerard, Louise, and James “Jim”.

Alma is survived by three daughters, Anne Marie Thomas, Dolores Torok (Ernest), and Mary Patricia Thomas, as well as her son-in-law, Paul Beesley, and her daughter-in-law, Katherine “Kitty“ Prentice. She is also survived by nine grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; dozens of nieces and nephews; and beloved caretakers, especially her loving caretaker and friend, Alyce Graves.

A funeral mass will be held April 17 at St. Clement of Rome Catholic Church in Sun City, Ariz., followed by an interment of ashes next to Joe, and a Luncheon and Celebration of Life at Sunland Memorial Park in Sun City, Ariz.