Family History – On Saturday June 29, 1946, a baby boy was delivered to the union of Mr. Clarence Weldon Thomas and Ms. Bessie Berneice (Thompson) Thomas.  They named him William Gene Thomas (a spelling mishap occurred during his primary education, thus the current name Wilbur Gene Thomas).  Wilbur was blessed to be among four other siblings at birth; Betty Lou, Lurlene, Clarence & Cora Bell.  Later on, he was blessed to have five other siblings born into the Thomas family: Betsy Lee, Philemon, Jonathon, Debra Ann & Gary Lavair.  Wilbur and his siblings grew up on a small farm in the rural community known as Summit, Oklahoma.

His Christian Life - Brother Wilbur Thomas accepted Jesus Christ in July 1955 at the age of 9 years with the First Baptist Church in Summit, Oklahoma.  Reverend H.P. Anthony was the Pastor of the Church.  He remained a member of First Baptist Church until his migration to Illinois after service in the Vietnamese War in 1970.  He joined the Antioch Baptist Church in Decatur, Illinois and remained a member until 1997.  In 1997, Wilbur joined Deans Chapel Missionary Baptist on his Christian experience. While on assignment in the Republic of Liberia from October 2004 through 2012, Wilbur was a member of the historic Providence Baptist Church in Monrovia, Liberia.  Throughout his Christian life, he served in many capacities within the Church.  In First Baptist Summit, he was secretary of the Sunday School and a member of the junior choir.  In Antioch Baptist Church, he was a member of the young adult choir and coach of the church's basketball team.  In Providence Baptist Church, he served on the strategic planning committee and worked on other projects including support to the men's ministry, youth church, music ministry, and literacy programs for disadvantaged women.  He was elected Father of the Year 2010/11 at Providence Baptist Church.  In Deans Chapel Baptist Church, he served as Chairperson of the Trustee Board, Member of the Brotherhood, and Facilitator of the Lay Baptist Men's Study Group.

His Secular Life - In secular life, Dr. Wilbur G. Thomas received his primary and junior high school education in the Du Bois School System in Summit, his high school diploma from the historic Manual Training High School in Muskogee, Oklahoma.  He furthered his studies at Oklahoma State University, receiving a B.S. degree in agriculture; The University of Illinois where he received M.S. & Ph.D. degrees in Animal Science, and Syracuse University where he received an M.A. degree in Public Administration from the prestigious Maxwell School of Public Policy & Government.  He was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree in International Relations from the AME University in Monrovia, Liberia.

His secular careers can be characterized as Educator, Diplomat, and War Veteran with over 50 years of experience in public, private, university, military and the international development community (28 plus years in West Africa field assignments – Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, and Niger).  Dr. Thomas traveled to or worked within over 60 countries world-wide.  He demonstrated leadership skills in position of general technical management and policy direction through a number of executive level management positions covering a wide range of sectors e.g. sustainable agricultural development, heath/population, democracy/governance, education, macro economic, environment, transportation.

He rose through the ranks of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to attain assignments as Mission Director (three different countries) and Office Director.  He was a career member of the U.S. Foreign Service and was promoted to the grade of Minister Counselor in the executive ranks of the service.  Dr. Thomas held executive level rank and positions that required nomination by the President of the United States of America and consent of the U.S. Senate in overseas assignment and in USAID's headquarters in Washington over a ten-year period until his first retirement from USAID in 1996.  He received USAID's Superior Honor Award and served with distinction as Office Director for Southern African Affairs, Mission Director to Liberia, Mission Director to Guinea, Mission Director to Burkina Faso, and Deputy Director to Mali.  He has worked throughout Franco-phone and sub-Saharan Africa.  Dr. Thomas sustained a long record of outstanding performance in each of his assignments as a USAID executive.  He was evaluated as a superb technical and executive manager with extremely good interpersonal skills.

During his USAID tenure, Dr. Thomas received several senior executive performance pay awards as a token of his success as a senior manager in highly complex and challenging assignments.  He prepared or supervised the preparation of more that 50 project/program designs with total budget well in excess of U.S.$4.0 billion.  Some of the most notable include; range and livestock programs in Senegal and Niger; agricultural sector assistance in Niger; famine early warning systems in Niger; basic education sector assistance in Liberia, Mali and Guinea; agricultural research and livestock marketing programs in Mali and Niger, community health delivery systems in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Liberia; natural resource management programs in Mali, Niger, Guinea and Liberia; rural enterprise development in Mali and Guinea; irrigation research and management programs in Niger, Egypt, and Jordan; agricultural training and extension programs in Morocco, Mali and Yemen; rural infrastructure development programs in Mali and Guinea; democracy/governance and election assistance programs in Guinea and Liberia; and regional economic integration programs in West and southern Africa.

Dr. Thomas' value to USAID eight years after his formal retirement was evident of an offer and acceptance of a "recall" assignment to USAID as Mission Director to Liberia.  He served with distinction in this position from September 2004 through May 2007. During Dr. Thomas' tenure in Liberia, great strides were made to bring Liberia back in the family of nations after fourteen years of conflict where over 250,000 lives were lost. He managed a very effective electoral process that led to the first elected female head of state on the Africa continent.

Dr. Thomas was wed to the former Juanita Herndon and after the dissolution of this marriage, he subsequently married and dissolved his marriage to Aissa Thomas.  Two children were born to his second union: Sonia M. Thomas-Tierney (née Thomas) and Wilbur G. Thomas Jr. He is also survived by his two grandchildren, Leila Tierney and Arya Tierney, his sisters, Betty Gibson, Lurlene Murray, Betsy Oakley, Debra Fields, and a host of nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his father, Clarence Weldon Thomas, his mother, Bessie Berneice Thomas, siblings Clarence Thomas, Cora Thomas Beasley, Philemon Thomas, Jonathon Thomas, and Gary Thomas.

In his spare time, Dr. Thomas loved to demonstrate his agricultural gift in vegetable/flower gardening and prowess as an accomplished small game hunter and fisherman.

A Home Going Celebration is scheduled Thursday, April 4, 2024, 11:00 a.m., Rayfield Baptist Church, 601 Indianapolis Street, Muskogee, OK; with Rev. John Walker delivering the eulogy. Visitation will be Wednesday 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity service will be at 6:00 p.m. Interment will be Friday, April 5, 2024, 10:00 a.m., Ft. Gibson National Cemetery, Ft. Gibson, OK; with Ft. Sill honors team rendering military honors.

Thursday's Home Going Celebration will be streamed live with Spiritual Sister on Facebook

The family has been cared for by House of Winn Funeral Home-Muskogee.