|
HAROLD A. “BUS” THOMAS COLLECTION Harold Thomas was born in West Branch on November 29, 1903. He picked up the nickname Bus during his childhood from for wearing a Buster Brown suit. In 1922 he graduated from West Branch High School. He married Catherine Krouth in Rock Island, IL on January 3, 1924. The couple, members of the Conservative Friends Meeting, had two sons, Phillip and Kenneth. In 1965 Thomas retired from the Post Office after 25 years of service. Thomas died in West Branch on March 28, 1997. As a young boy his mother, Pauline, worked as a correspondent for the West Branch Times. Back then he kept a notebook of events, which sparked an interest in local history. Over time he became an unofficial historian for West Branch. The Harold A. Thomas Collection consists of two linear feet of reminiscences, correspondence, published materials, oral history audio recordings, reproductions of photographs, and other historical materials documenting early West Branch history and information on the family of Herbert Hoover. FOLDER LIST 1 Airplanes 2 Herbert Hoover Library and Birthplace Clippings Hotels 3 Railroads and Trains Audiotapes on RR History Roads Scattergood School 4 Thomas Family History 5 (Oversize Items) Map of West Branch, Undated
|