David G. Thomas put a lot of life into his 69 years. As a boy I remember my dad telling me a story about working at a  mushroom farm. He said the work was hard and  the smell was terrible. He said they used manure to fertilize the mushrooms and the odor was very strong. David enlisted in the Army when I believe he was 17 or 18. He did a tour in Germany where he learned to speak an impressive amount of german.  He  finished his time and left with an Honorable Diacharge. After leaving the army,  My dad started his job  at G.M in detroit."Son," he told me,"when I started at G.M. I was making 3 dollars and 10 cents an hour. The smoke was so black in the Eumoco department you couldn't see your own hand." My dad worked for G.M. for 34 years before he retired. He started working as a maunal labor on the floor. He transfered into the die room and eventually became a Die room manager.

 

 

     Our fathers real passion was carpentry. He would have a vison for every house he lived in. The first house I can rememeber him puting his talents into was  our house in Auburn Heights, on Dearborn Street.  I remember trying to climb the latter to the roof where my dad  was working when I was about three or four years old. My dad put his vision into several house after that. I remember him telling me a story  about  his house on crooks road in troy. He said," I used to drive by that house all the time. I remember an old woman who was a widow that used to  live there. I was married to your mom then. I told her I would own that house someday." And of course he did. I remember my dad walking me through the house when it was in the begining stages of one of my dads visionary renovations. The floors were ripped down to the bare wood, and pieces of the drywall from the ceiling were all over the floor. My dad walked me through the house,"Over here will be a large living room, its called a great room. It will have cathedral cealings with tongue and grove wood." he walked me through every room and described his vision with great detail. Where I saw an old broken down farm house, my dad saw a future creation. A place where he could truly call home....