Coincidences with Family Roots

[Image contributed to FamilySearch.org – 25 June 2017]

An unexpected visit from a young 20 year old

In about 1974-1975 while living in San Clemente, California, I was asked by my Elders Quorum President in the San Clemente Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to visit Lewis Thomas. The president told me that no one in the ward had been able to get in his home to visit with him. He was about 80 years old and I was barely 20. I was told that Lewis had not been to church in some 40 years. I thought we wouldn’t have anything in common and there were surely so many other men that were more capable to encourage him to come to church, but I accepted the assignment. On my first visit, I knocked on the door at his mobile home up on the beautiful San Clemente/Capistrano Beach bluff. The door opened a crack and I looked up to a tall, about 6 foot 6 man, who asked, “What do you want?”. I introduced myself and said why I was there. He then asked, “What did you say your name was?”. I said, Darrell Hansen. At that, he threw open his door, waved his big hand and said, come on in. I followed him into his living room. A friendship had begun.

Helping Lewis with his Rose Garden

I remember at the time I had this idea with my father-in-law to raise earth worms for fishing and gardening. Lewis was very interested in the soil benefits of earth worms. He had a beautiful rose garden. It turns out he was my only customer. I sold him a truck load of earth worms for his garden. I helped him work the worms into his garden.

Lewis watched Music & The Spoken Word every Sunday morning

In time I discovered that Lewis watched the “Music & The Spoken Word” on TV every Sunday. That’s how he stayed connected with the church. He said he had stopped going to church because his wife was not a member and he wanted to spend time with her.

Lewis’s Career

He told me lots of stories including his experiences as a teacher, school superintendent and moving up to eventually work with the US Department of Education, traveling a lot. I think he was responsible for the western United States. He had a friendship with Bing Crosby. He loved baseball. I think Bing Crosby and he had something in common with a professional baseball team, but I can’t remember the team.

Called on a mission as a 16-year old to Denmark – likely because his mother’s maiden name was Hansen

One day, Lewis told me the story of how he was called on a mission at age 16. He said in those days, General Authorities would often visit stake conferences and call missionaries right there in the stake conference meeting to their mission. He said when he was about 16, they had a stake conference in Rigby, Idaho and he happened to sit by the 19 year-olds. The visiting authority asked all the 19 year-olds to stand and when he saw Lewis just sitting there and observed his size (he was very tall for his age), he ask him to stand also. Then he went down the line of missionaries and asked their name. He would then give them their mission calling. Often the mission they were called to was based on their family’s country of origin as surmised by their family name, at least that was Lewis’s observation. When he came to Lewis, he was sure he would be called to England. The speaker paused and said Brother Thomas, the Lord wants you to go to Denmark, and so Lewis was called to the Scandinavian Mission. I remembered on another occasion Lewis said his mother’s maiden name was “Hansen”. He sort of winked at me when he gave the punch line to his story and reminded me about his mother. We tried to figure out if we were related especially since both our families were from Idaho, but we couldn’t discover a connection.

Back to church in San Clemente and new friendships for Lewis

Often I would invite Lewis to come to church and finally he accepted my invitation. I remember the day I picked him up. He was dressed in a white shirt, bow-tie, suspenders, trousers, brown and white wing-tip shoes and a big straw hat. He was a sensation. Everyone loved him. He was just so friendly with everyone.

Finding Lewis once again using his mother’s maiden name – Hansen

Over the years we lost touch with each other. I moved away from San Clemente for college and my job. Years later I found myself thinking about him, but knowing that he likely had passed away, I went to FamilySearch.org and tried many times to find him to no avail. I began to wonder if I had remembered his name correctly. Then one day, I remembered, of course, his mother’s maiden name was “Hansen”. That’s why the Lord called him to Denmark on a mission. That’s why my Elder’s Quorum president called me to be his minister, even though he didn’t know that at the time. So I added his mother’s maiden name in my search criteria to FamilySearch and voila, I found L.A. Thomas. On further research, I saw that his name was Lewis Ambrey Thomas. I was so excited. All the information about him, his mission, his wife who was a nurse, it all matched. Then I found his obituary and funeral program. Richard Daastrup was a soloist at his service. Richard was an amazing tenor in the San Clemente Ward. Yes, it was him. I found Lewis once again!

When I was visiting Lewis, I met his second wife, Ragna Lagetta Fredrickson. She was Norwegian, a traveling nurse and such an incredibly nice person. She suffered a stroke during the time I knew them and passed away about five years later in 1979. Lewis passed away in 1992 at the age of 99. His cheerful zest for life I’m sure played a role in extending his life to almost a full century. Imagine the things he saw during his lifetime.

John 10:3 (KJV)
To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.