Gladys Thames

Gladys Susan Thames, 99, passed away on July 25, 2025, at her home in Thomasville, Georgia. Miss Thames was the youngest of five children born to Walter Hendrix Thames, Sr., and Claude Dunn. She was born on Friday, November 13, 1925, on Rosedale Avenue in Thomasville. She graduated from Thomasville High School in 1944 and the Georgia State Women's College (now Valdosta State University) in 1948. After working in Thomasville and Atlanta, she moved to Brunswick, Georgia, where she taught sixth and fourth grade students at Fourth Street School. She then returned to Atlanta and worked at radio station WQXL and the Georgia State Building Authority. Following helpful counseling from brother Jimmy Thames, she entered the Grady Hospital School of Nursing in September 1956. After graduation, as a registered nurse, she taught pediatric nursing in that same School of Nursing for one year.

In 1960, Miss Thames returned to Thomasville because of the illness of her mother. After working three years at Archbold Memorial Hospital in Thomasville, Gladys established the first class of practical nursing in the City of Thomasville School System. She taught for one year, graduating nine students, all of whom became licensed practical nurses. The practical nursing program is now an integral part of the Southwest Georgia Technical University. Returning to Archbold Memorial Hospital, she established the Department of Education, a position she held until retirement.

Miss Thames was preceded in death by her parents, and by siblings Walter H. Thames, Jr., and wife Joanna, Annie Clare Thames Peck and husband James, James Richard Thames, Sr. and wife Dorothy, and infant son James Richard James Jr., Claude Dunn Thames and wife Ruth, a nephew William T Peck and a niece Margaret Bitner. She was additionally preceded in death by her dearest friend of more than ninety years, Betty Moore Durr of Thomasville, Macon, and Tallahassee. She also lost a special love, Vestal Barber, who died at age 18 on the island of Samar in the Philippines in World War II.

Miss Thames is survived by a niece, Joanna Thames Harrington of Brookshire, Texas, and her daughter Laura Harrington, and daughter Laura Megan Harrington, also of Brookshire, Texas. Also by nephew James Henry Peck, Jr. and wife Gail of Charlotte, NC and their children Stephen David Peck and wife Sherri of Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, and Lynn Peck Smith and husband Kevin of Santa Fe, New Mexico; a great-nephew, Thomas Christopher Peck and his mother Sheila of Pembroke, Georgia, and Brian Jarrell Thames and wife Deborah and daughter Bethany Joy Thames of Asheville, North Carolina.

Gladys loved classical music, and she also spent countless hours researching her family history through many generations. Services will be announced in the upcoming days.