Dolores King Thomas
October 2, 1937 - October 29, 2020
Dolores passed away peacefully at the age of 83 due to complications of Lewy Bodies dementia.
Dolores was born at St Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco to Ruth and Walter King. She grew up in San Francisco’s Eureka Valley with her three older siblings in the family home of 60+ years. The Kings were a strong Irish Catholic family. She and her siblings attended Most Holy Redeemer Grammar School and Dolores graduated from Notre Dame High School in 1955.
During high school, Dolores met the love of her life, Bill Thomas. They married on July 7th, 1956 when Dolores was just 18 years old. A year later, Bill Jr was born and in 1962, the family moved to Novato where they had two more children, Joe and Judy.
During most of her children’s upbringing, Dolores was a stay- at- home mother. In the fall of 1981, while her youngest children were in high school, Dolores enrolled in her first year of college. Within four years, while juggling school, motherhood and being a wife, Dolores graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.
At the age of 48, Dolores’s first post- graduate job was in San Francisco’s financial district as an accountant with a large real estate management firm. A few years later, Dolores landed a job with the Marin County Office of Education. From there, she was promoted to Business Manager for the Shoreline Unified School District and the Ross Valley School District where she worked tirelessly to support public education and students in Marin County. Dolores retired in 1999 and quickly settled into a very comfortable and happy retirement.
During her retirement, Dolores and Bill enjoyed many amazing vacations including a cruise around the South American continent and through the Amazon River, as well as road trips across the U. S. and parts of Canada. Her hobbies were planning her vacations, remodeling and designing her home, and planning every detail of family parties. But, throughout her life, her passion was her family and her children and grandchildren were her biggest treasures.
While Dolores will be greatly missed, her legacy will live on in the hearts of her family and dear friends. Dolores is survived by her loving husband of 64 years, her children; Bill ( Chris) of Petaluma, Joe ( Edith) of Novato, and Judy Macaluso ( Tom) of San Ramon; grandchildren, Justin Thomas, Valerie Thomas, Sierra Macaluso, Peter Macaluso, and “adopted” grandson, Levi Van Weddingen and her great- grandson, Will Thomas. She is also survived by her brother Tom King ( Alice) and sister- in- law, Rita King ( Jerry) as well as many loving nieces and nephews. Dolores is predeceased by her siblings, Jerry King and Nancy Pola and her brotherinlaw, Mario Pola.
Regrettably, due to COVID19 restrictions, services will be private.