Services for Fannie Roena “Sis” Brown Thomas will be Tuesday, July 14, 2009, at 9 a.m. at Mt. Elem M.B. Church with Rev. Leon Nelson officiating. Interment will follow in Cedar Hill Cemetery under the direction of Dillon-Chisley Funeral Home. Visitation will be Monday from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. at the funeral home and Tuesday at the church from 8 a.m. until the hour of service.

Mrs. Thomas died Friday, July 10, 2009, at her home. She was 80.

Mrs. Thomas was a 1946 graduate of Bowman High School. She attended Southern Christian Institute, Jackson State University, Southeast Community College in Lincoln, Neb., and the University of Nebraska.

She taught in the Sharkey County School District for a number of years and later became a licensed practical nurse. She also served as director of the Malone Community Center in Lincoln.

She was an associate matron of the Order of the Eastern Star, vice president of the State Missionary Society and president of the State LPN Association.

She was a member of Mount Olive M.B. Church where she served as a member of the Senior Usher Board, church treasurer and mentor to the Junior Usher Board.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Eddie B. Thomas Sr.; a son, Alfred Louis Brown; her parents, Alfonso and Clara Brown and Fannie McDonald; her sister, Beatrice Ballard; one aunt and four uncles.

Survivors include one son, Eddie B. Thomas Jr. of Lincoln, Neb.; four daughters, Maggie Burton of Killeen, Texas, Glodean Jackson and Cathy Craven, both of Lincoln, Neb., and Janice Thomas of Vicksburg; nine grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild and a number of other relatives.