Rev. Donald Thomas, currently of Friendly, West Virginia, will be celebrating 70 years of pastoral ministry in October. Parishioners past and present, friends and family are invited to attend an open house for Rev. Thomas on Saturday, October 17th, 2026, from 2:00-4:00 pm at Valley Grange #519, 8939 Route 18 (Middle Island Road), Alma, West Virginia.

Thomas, nearly 97 at the time of writing, was born in Tyler County, West Virginia in October 1929. Following his graduation from Sistersville High School, he served in the US Army, after which he was employed as a butcher and farmer. In 1951 he married Montana Ash, and they purchased a farm in Tyler County. In March of 1955, Thomas sensed that God wanted him to become a preacher, and a year and a half later he was licensed as a Methodist minister on October 26, 1956, in Wheeling.

The Thomas’s moved with their young family to Pleasant Valley in Marshall County where Rev. Thomas served four and a half years in his first ministry assignment. He attended pastoral school for a month each summer from 1957-60. In 1961, his church assignment brought the family to Marion County where they remained for 31 years. Thomas pastored Methodist charges in Farmington and Rivesville and then at Christ United Methodist in Fairmont.

Following Thomas’ “retirement” in 1992, he and his wife moved back to Tyler County, where he served as a fill-in preacher for two years before being assigned as a part-time minister for the Alma-Ripley United Methodist charge. Thomas currently preaches at two churches. In his career, he has officiated at 555 weddings, witnessed 795 people make professions of faith in Christ, and conducted 1474 funeral services.

In such a long tenure as a pastor, he has a portfolio of interesting experiences, ranging from a graveside fight between family members over the American flag to conducting a wedding in his home at 1:30 in the morning before the groom was deployed for military service. Thomas commented that 17 years after that early morning wedding, he ran into the couple he had wed, and they reported being still happily married with four children. When asked why he continues to preach after so many years, Rev. Thomas replied, “I just feel like doing the Lord’s service.” He says that the most rewarding part of being a pastor for him has been the cooperation of people with his ministry.

Rev. Thomas and his wife Montana were married for 70 years before she passed away in 2022. Rev. Thomas has four children, nine living grandchildren, two deceased grandchildren, and 11 great grandchildren.