Robert Thomas Jr., Pearl Harbor survivor and ex-O.C. official, dies at 95

Robert Thomas Jr., Orange County’s first chief administrative officer and one of its handful of remaining Pearl Harbor survivors, has died at age 95.

Thomas passed away from natural causes Feb. 10 at the home of his son, Robert Thomas III, in Gridley, a town in Northern California.

“He is truly, to me, the epitome of what an American is,” his son said. “You love God. You love your country. You work hard. You don’t pat yourself on the back. You make other people look good. He was really selfless.”

Thomas, a longtime resident of Orange and a member of Mariners Church in Irvine, provided a link to history in more ways than one. After a military career of more than two decades, he went to work for the county in 1964 and oversaw two decades in which the region steadily grew into a metropolis.

But even if Thomas had never worked a day for the government, he would have been a resource for future generations. On Dec. 7, 1941, he was a young Navy officer working on the USS Nevada when Japanese planes launched the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Thomas, who suffered shrapnel wounds to his legs and arm but continued to issue orders until he collapsed, was awarded the Navy Cross for bravery.

“I was probably going into shock, because I felt so safe and serene, even while the attack continued,” Thomas told the Los Angeles Times in 2007. “I remember thinking, ‘OK, you SOBs. You tried to kill me and you didn’t.’”

According to his daughter, Carole Lynn Thomas, he kept a low profile for decades about his experiences at Pearl Harbor. In later years, though, he maintained a steady schedule as a guest speaker, visiting Newport Harbor High School, Camp Pendleton and other venues to pass his stories to younger generations.

For decades, Pearl Harbor survivors were a thriving group nationwide, with Orange County among the many regions with a chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Assn. But inevitably, the ranks thinned over time. In December, Chapter 14 held its final meeting at the American Legion post in Los Alamitos.

“We’re losing these great men, and they’re cherished,” said Dwight Hanson, an honorary member of Chapter 14 who moderated most of the December meeting.

Thomas, he noted, was a role model who inspired Hanson’s daughter, an aspiring naval officer. The family first met Thomas after Jessica Hanson noticed his Pearl Harbor survivor license plate in the Mariners Church parking lot and slipped a note onto his windshield thanking him for his service.

The family later got to know Thomas as a fellow church member. At age 91, the veteran made a public profession of faith at Mariners — his first, according to his son. When Jessica Hanson applied to the Naval Academy, Thomas wrote her a letter of recommendation.

“He was like a grandparent to my kids,” Dwight Hanson said.

Thomas was an Illinois native who grew up in a military family. He suffered a tragic loss during World War II even as he survived the conflict himself. His father, Robert Thomas Sr., died in a plane crash in 1943 while serving with the Navy.

But the younger Thomas stayed in the service for nearly two decades after the war ended and remained a plane enthusiast for the rest of his life.

Upon his retirement from the Navy in 1964, Thomas went to work for Orange County as building services director. He later was named chief administrative officer.

According to Chris Jepsen, president of the Orange County Historical Society, Thomas helped guide the region through a period of population and budget growth. During his tenure, the county budget increased from less than $100 million to more than $1 billion.

Among the structures built during Thomas’ years with the county were the Civic Center in Santa Ana and the county jail. The Robert E. Thomas Hall of Administration at the Civic Center bears his name.

After Thomas announced his plan to retire in the mid-1980s, then-county Supervisor Bruce Nestande stated in the Los Angeles Times that Thomas “brought [Orange County] from a rural, agrarian nature to basically a major urban center, and did a very good job in doing so.”

Carole Lynn Thomas remembers her father as a hard-working man who was dedicated to his job and loved to take his family on history-oriented vacations, driving to sites such as Gettysburg and Antietam and telling his children the stories behind them. When she joined a 4-H club in junior high school, Thomas woke at 5 a.m. on school mornings to drive her to the local farm, then sat in the car doing crossword puzzles while she worked with animals.

“He was a great dad,” she said. “He focused on his work 90% of the time, but the time he gave his kids was great. When he gave us his time, he would give 110%.”

His son remembers something else about Thomas: his dedication to racial equality. After Thomas was wounded at Pearl Harbor, he noted that all service members, regardless of race, spilled blood of the same color.

As a county official, Thomas pushed for better services for minority residents and lobbied for diversity in hiring, according to his son.

“He was always promoting female, Hispanic … you name it,” Robert Thomas III said. “He looked for ways to capitalize on their abilities and promote them.”

Thomas, whose wife, Carol, died in 1982, also is survived by his older daughter, Helen Hogan, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Services will be held at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Fairhaven Memorial Park, 1702 Fairhaven Ave., Santa Ana.