Harry L. Thomas Jr, 89, a resident of South Wilkes-Barre, died Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012, in the Inpatient Unit, Hospice Community Care, Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre Hospital, following a lengthy illness.

Mr. Thomas was born in Scranton, son of the late Harry L. Thomas Sr. and Margaret Gill Thomas. He was a graduate of Forty Fort High School, Class of 1942, and had attended Bucknell and Drexel universities.

He proudly served as a signalman/radio operator with the Army during World War II in the China-Burma-India Theater and had been decorated for his effort.

Returning to civilian life, Harry was a pioneer in the early days of television, first as a broadcast engineer at WILK-TV, Wilkes-Barre, and, later, prior to his retirement in 1988, at WNEP-TV, Moosic. He had spent 42 years in the broadcast industry.

Harry was an active member of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Wilkes-Barre, where he had been a member of the session, an elder and Sunday school teacher of the Ladies Webster Class of the Sunday school. He also attended Christ United Presbyterian Church, Lee Park, and the Hanover Green Chapel, Hanover Township.

As amateur radio operator "W3KOD" he had maintained an interest in radio and was a member of Army MARS, Skywarn, WMELess Radio Club, ARRL, a 50-year member of the QCWA(Quarter century wireless association) and the Murgas Radio Club. He and his wife participated in the Red Cross Disaster Team, the Luzerne County Emergency Management Agency and he also was a member of the Nescopeck Rod and Gun Club, the National Rifle Association and was a life member of Forty Fort Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8595.

He was preceded in death by a sister, Margaret Williams.

Surviving are his wife of 62 years, Elizabeth J. Culver Thomas, at home; a son, Mark Thomas, Bloomingdale; a brother, George Thomas and his wife, Janet, Edgewater, Fla.; a sister, Cleo Cafesjian and her husband, Gerard, Naples, Fla.; nieces and nephews.

A private funeral will be held at the convenience of the family from H. Merritt Hughes Funeral Home Inc., a Golden Rule Funeral Home, 451 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre. Interment will be in Bloomingdale Cemetery. There will be no public service or calling hours.

The family requests that flowers be omitted and that donations in Mr. Thomas' memory be made to a charity of the donor's choice .

Published in Citizens' Voice on November 13, 2012