JO CROOK THOMAS
Jo Crook Thomas, age 97, died on May 26, 2025. Services were held at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 31, 2025, at Calvary Baptist Church, 1606 Ave. I NW, Childress, Texas, with Terry Williams officiating. A burial at Childress Cemetery followed.
Born May 7, 1928, in Childress, Jo was the third child of Donald and Laura Carl Crook; the first born in the “new” farmhouse. Jo graduated with Honors from Childress High School in 1945 and West Texas State in Canyon, Texas with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1949. She went on to get a degree in education at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 1968.
Jo taught high school in Carlsbad, N.M., then worked for an oil company in Midland, Texas for 12 years, where she met the love of her life, John Charles Thomas.
With their three girls, in 1965, they relocated to Northwest Arkansas, where she retired from teaching in 1990. She had a great impact on so many children in the community, some of which she still communicated with.
After becoming a widow, she moved to Lubbock,Texas, where she spent the rest of her life, to be near family. At 97, she was still living in her house, sharp as a tack. She was independent, other than her Alexa and iPhone.
Jo is survived by daughter Laura (Betsy) Thomas, of Saint Petersburg, Fla., and stepdaughter Janice Thomas, of West Plains, Mo. She had four grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her stepdaughter Donna Koumbus, of Hampton, Ga., and her granddaughter, Kelley Garrett, of Hampton. She is also preceded by her seven siblings, Harold Malloy, Jay Malloy, Maxine Gale, Mildred Allen, Don Ray Crook, Lois Smith and Shirley Barnes.
Jo loved traveling and being with her huge, amazing family. She was always the life of the party.
Services were held on Saturday, May 31, 2025, at Calvary Baptist Church.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations for the restoration of the family farmhouse in Childress by visiting gofund.net/44ac3d8a. The farm has been in the Crook family for over 100 years.
Much love from her family.
