
Charles Vaden Thomas
Oct 14, 1949Dec 04, 2017
Visitation
Location
Affinity Funeral Service
Date
Wed, December 06, 2017
Time
6 : 00 PM – 8 : 00 PM
Graveside Service
Location
Blanford Cemetery
Date
Thu, December 07, 2017
Time
11 : 00 AM – 12 : 00 AM
Celebration of Life
Location
Trinity United Methodist Church
Date
Thu, December 07, 2017
Time
1 : 00 PM – 12 : 00 AM
Obituary message
Charles Vaden Thomas, 68, of Glen Allen, died on December 4, 2017 after a courageous 17-month battle with glioblastoma brain cancer. He was the only child of Edith Gilbert Thomas and Beverly Vaden Thomas of Mechanicsville. He is survived by his wife of 37 years, Harriet Shackelford Thomas, by beloved daughters, Kimberly Elizabeth Collins (Chris Collins) and Joy Seon DuVal (Thomas DuVal) and grandchildren Oshby Kaleb Collins and Lily Kim Duval as well as many cousins. Charlie graduated from Virginia Tech in Electrical Engineering in 1972. He later earned a Virginia Professional Engineering license. He worked for Dominion Virginia Power for 27 years, Motorola for 9 years, and served as a consulting engineer for 5 years at Comdex, a public safety communications firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Charlie helped design and lead public safety projects across the country involving communications for local police and firemen as well as systems for corporations. These included working with Houston, Tampa, Kansas City, the Washington Metro System, Henrico County, and the nuclear power plants at Surry and North Anna. He was proud to receive on March 15, 1994, a US patent (Number 5,293,755) for an Air Conditioning Load Management Control System. The US Department of Commerce’s Patent and Trademark Office picked Charlie’s invention as one of 125 inventions nationwide to exhibit at the National Inventors Conference and Expo held September 15-16, 1995, at Epcot Center in Disney World. Kim and Joy were so happy Daddy won this honor as they got to meet Mickey and Minnie Mouse on the trip. Charlie enjoyed travelling to 47 states, Canada, Mexico, and 13 European countries. Charlie served as president of the Richmond Joint Engineers Council in 1991. He was president of the Richmond Area Bicycling Association (RABA) in 2013 and held other positions over the years. He worked with RABA’s Bikes for Kids program providing bikes to area Christmas Mother programs. Charlie worked with Groundwork RVA to supply bikes to students at Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary in the city of Richmond. He was an avid bicyclist for many years. Charlie was an active member of Trinity United Methodist Church on Forest Ave. in Henrico. He worked on many special projects for the Property Committee and the Creation Care Committee and worked on several mission opportunities. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8pm Wednesday, December 6 at Affinity Funeral Service at 2720 Enterprise Parkway, Richmond, VA 23294. A graveside service will be held at 11am Thursday, December 7 at Blanford Cemetery, 319 S. Crater Rd., Petersburg, VA. A Celebration of Life will follow at 1pm at Trinity United Methodist Church, 903 Forest Ave, Henrico, VA. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Trinity United Methodist Church (Missions); or Groundwork RVA, 409 E. Main St. Suite 200, Richmond VA 23219.
Charles and I have been more like brothers than cousins, sharing many good times together. I will miss him very much. It is hard to have to say good bye.
Sure was sorry to see that Charlie passed away. He was a great guy and I know he will be missed by his family and friends. May God be with his family and friends at this difficult time.
Charlie was a great neighbor these last 3 years. So helpful to me and to our little community here at Hunton Station. We loved his humor and his willingness to sit and talk. Charlie had an amazing life and was so ready to go be with our Lord and put this illness behind him and Harriett. We rejoice that there is no more pain and he is now with the Lord.