Orient, Zion communities come out to surprise parade for Thomas' 96th birthday

ORIENT — Someone quipped to Gene Thomas at a birthday parade held for him last Tuesday night in Orient that more people showed up to celebrate his 96th birthday than the number of attendees some years at the Pumpkin Days parade, the town's annual celebration held each fall.

The parade was clearly a surprise to Thomas.

"I wasn't supposed to know very much about it," said Thomas, who was told by the person driving him that they were just going to go on a ride up and around the downtown area of Orient.

Once they reached the Orient Plymouth Congregational Church, Thomas realized this wasn't going to be a usual scoop around the loop. Instead, a parade was being held and he was the Grand Marshal.

"There were probably about a dozen cars out there. I thought there must have been quite a few people who knew quite a bit more about this before I did," Thomas said. "It just kept growing and growing."

From the church, Thomas could look down the street and clearly see dozens of people who had lined the streets and were waiting for the parade to start. Thomas led the parade, throwing out candy to kids along the street and waving to those cheering him on.

At the end of the parade, Thomas got out of his vehicle and was able to sit in a lawn chair while the spectators became the parade and drove by him to wish him a happy birthday. The Orient Volunteer Fire Department got two of their trucks out to participate in the parade and horses took up the rear of the parade.

"People came by, wished me a happy birthday, and it was probably 8:30 or 9 before my chauffer took me home. It was a wonderful evening for me and all I had to do was be there," Thomas said. "I'll never turn 96 again. There were so many people, it turned out so good and it was a wonderful evening."

Thomas is known as a regular at several local restaurants, where he eats breakfast, lunch and supper each day. He is also a well-known supporter of Orient-Macksburg School and Southwestern Community College activities.

Thomas logged decades of going to the Hill of Zion Church early Sunday mornings during the winter to start the furnace and has organized the Memorial Day flags at the Hill of Zion Cemetery for nearly as long.

Thomas and his wife, Mary Susan, who passed away in 2014, would visit many nurinsg homes in the area until her health failed — nursing homes in Winterset, Greenfield, Fontanelle and Creston — and Gene still was visiting people in them on his own until COVID-19 restricted visitors.

Thomas is a member of the Hill of Zion Union Township Park Commitee and has been a Union Township trustee for over a half-century.

Thomas has an iPhone and enjoys receiving photos and sending text messages to people. He has two local daughters who keep track of him and call him each night.

"I'm 96, going on 97, and I feel super," Thomas said. "I moved here in the third grade and my parents moved to Orient in 1936. A lot of wonderful people [live here]."