Roy Elmer Thomas

Roy Elmer Thomas

Male 1898 - 1982  (83 years)

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  • Name Roy Elmer Thomas 
    Born 27 Sep 1898  Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • Copy (6 Dec 1968) of Birth Certificate: original filed September 1898, Vol. 9, P. 127, Indanapolis, Marion, IN
    Gender Male 
    Died 4 Feb 1982  Hospice of Southern Michigan, Southfield, Oakland County, Michigan, U.S.A. Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • Social Security Index: "Roy Thomas, b. 27 Sep 1898 d. Feb 1982, last residence: Livonia, Wayne County, MI, SSN 269-05-7290 Ohio (Bef. 1951)."

      Michigan Deaths, 1971-1996: "Roy E. Thomas, b. 27 Sep 1898, residence: Livonia, Wayne County; d. 4 Feb 1982 Southfield, Oakland County."
    Buried Cremation Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • U.S. Census Indianapolis, Marion, IN 1900 & 1910: living with parents

      Roy Elmer Thomas learned the bakery business when he moved as a teenager into the home of his sister and brother-in-law, Mamie and Louis Culmann, who owned a German-style bakery in Indianapolis, Marion, IN.

      U.S. Navy 7 Jan 1918, Apprentice Seaman, Indianapolis, Marion, IN. Roy and an older co-worker enlisted in the Navy as bakers and were initially sent to Great Lakes Naval Training Station, outside of Chicago. He was: "Age: 20 yrs 10 mos, Height: 5' 5 1/2", Weight: 125 lbs, Eyes: blue, Hair: dark brown, Complexion: ruddy, Percent of time on sick list: 20%"

      U.S. Navy Aug 1918, Drum major, Camp Logan, IL Roy Elmer Thomas answered a call for volunteers to try out for the band and won the assignment because of his ability to "strut while marching backwards."

      Mother's residence, 1918-1919, 1212 North Senate Ave, Indianapolis, Marion, IN (address in photo album)

      U.S. Navy, 1918-1919, Naval Rifle Range, Camp Logan, IL

      Drum Major, 7 May 1919, Homecoming Parade, Indianapolis, Marion, IN

      Indianapolis, IN Star, Tuesday, August 30, 1921, p. 9: "ELECTION BOARD TO MEET FRIDAY. Instructions will Be Given Newly Appointed Judges by County Auditor. . . . Non-Partisan . . . List of Judges: . . . Third Ward. . . . Seventh Precinct, Roy E. Thomas . . ."

      Indianapolis, Marion County, IN Directory 1934: "Roy E. & Iva F. Thomas, 3750 Graceland Ave, baker."

      Summer 1934: Roy Elmer Thomas and and wife, Iva Florence Deal, moved from Indianapolis, IN when he was hired by the shortening ("Crisco") division of Proctor & Gamble.

      The job interview in part consisted of a brief, unrehearsed presentation before a group of "salesmen," who he learned later were actually managers and vice-presidents and who happened to be meeting nearby for another purpose.

      He was hired to hold training sessions for bakers in major cities and consult with large bakeries who were having problems in the use of P & G's shortening, known to housewives as "Crisco," but to commercial bakeries as "Sweetex." He was assigned to Cleveland, OH, to Cincinnati, OH headquarters, to Chicago, IL, and finally back to Cincinnati, OH.

      Fall 1939: Roy Elmer Thomas left P & G for Detroit, MI, where he worked for a large local chain before buying The Redford Home Bakery. He eventually moved the bakery to Livonia, MI and renamed it, "Thomas Wedding Cakes."

      Roy Richard Thomas - Feb 2011
    Person ID I12985  Complete
    Last Modified 22 Jan 2018 

    Father Robert Thomas,   b. 26 Jan 1847, Perry, Marion County, Indiana, U.S.A. Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 12 Sep 1916, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 69 years) 
    Mother Addie Davenport,   b. 15 Jun 1862, Medora, Carr, Jackson County, Indiana, U.S.A. Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1 Oct 1928, Methodist Hospital, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, U.S.A. Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 66 years) 
    Married 15 May 1879  Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • Indiana Marriage Collection, 1800-1941: "Addie Davenport, age 16 b. Abt. 1863 & Albert [Robert] Thomas, m. 15 May 1879 Marion County."

      LDS FamilySearch Indiana Marriages, 1780-1992: "Robert Thomas & Adie Davenport, m. 15 May 1879 Indianapolis, Marion County."
    Documents
    Robert Thomas updated his personal file for the Bureau of Pensions
    Robert Thomas updated his personal file for the Bureau of Pensions

    This update in 1915 included a list of his living children and their birthdates. The "Robert Thomas Pension Letter dated 5/8/09" was indeed signed by Robert Thomas, but the body of the letter was evidently written by his wife, Addie Davenport. Compare the script of the word "Thomas" in the "I Robert Thomas" at the beginning of the "Pension Letter" with the script of "Thomas" in the signature of Addie Thomas near the top of page two of her pension application. The body of Addie Davenport's pension application was written by a clerk, probably in her lawyer's office.
    Family ID F5760  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Iva Florence Deal,   b. 13 Oct 1899, Brazil, Clay County, Indiana, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 3 Apr 1982, Botsford General Hospital, Farmington Hills, Oakland County, Michigan, U.S.A. Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 82 years) 
    Married 2 Aug 1921  Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana, U.S.A. Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
    +1. Roy Richard Thomas,   b. 1926, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 22 Nov 2020, Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee, U.S.A. Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 94 years)
    +2. Living
    +3. Patricia Ann Thomas,   b. 24 Sep 1936, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, U.S.A. Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 23 Oct 2002, Rossville, Walker County, Georgia, U.S.A. Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 66 years)
    Last Modified 29 May 2011 
    Family ID F5779  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBorn - 27 Sep 1898 - Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, USA Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarried - 2 Aug 1921 - Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana, U.S.A. Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDied - 4 Feb 1982 - Hospice of Southern Michigan, Southfield, Oakland County, Michigan, U.S.A. Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBuried - - Cremation Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Photos
    Roy Elmer Thomas face
    Roy Elmer Thomas face
    Roy Elmer Thomas 1918
    Roy Elmer Thomas 1918

    Great Lakes Naval Training Station
    Roy Elmer Thomas in Navy Band.
    Roy Elmer Thomas in Navy Band.

    Roy Elmer Thomas enlisted Jan 1918 U.S. Navy as a baker, but was chosen to lead as Drum Major a Navy band first at Camp Logan, IL & then at Great Lakes Naval Station, Chicago, IL. He is shown in a formal picture of the band taken in 1919.
    Roy Elmer Thomas and John Philip Sousa
    Roy Elmer Thomas and John Philip Sousa

    Roy Elmer Thomas to Roy Richard Thomas, May 12, 1974:

    [In December 1918,] "I met [John Philip] Sousa. . . . I was appointed Drum Major of the Main Great Lakes Naval Station Band thru Sousa and a Lt. Painter, who was the Bandmaster under Sousa. . . . Sousa wanted me to go to New York with his band. He would provide a teacher for any instrument I wanted. I was fooling around with the tuba and tenor sax. I had met Iva F. Deal just after I enlisted and, when a guy is in love, its hard to stay away. That's what would happen if I went to New York, so I said 'No!'" and returned to the baker's trade.

    Sousa dedicated this march, published in 1920, to the American Legion, which had been chartered 16 Sep 1919 by Congress. The Legion on 11 Nov 1919 chose Indianapolis, IN for its national headquarters. After she married Roy Elmer Thomas, Iva Florence Deal worked several years as a secretary (Gregg shorthand) and her father, Charles Deal, as a night watchman at the Legion's headquarters in downtown Indianapolis.

    Roy Richard Thomas Summer 2006
    Roy Elmer Thomas, drum major, Homecoming Parade 1919
    Roy Elmer Thomas, drum major, Homecoming Parade 1919

    Indianapolis, Marion, IN. Just after this picture was taken, the drum major fell!
    Roy Elmer Thomas after the fall 1919
    Roy Elmer Thomas after the fall 1919

    Indianapolis, Marion, IN Homecoming Parade.

    The drum major scrambled to his feet and continued to strut as though he had not fallen.
    Roy Elmer Thomas, drum major, Labor Day Parade 1919
    Roy Elmer Thomas, drum major, Labor Day Parade 1919
    Roy Elmer Thomas & Robert Richard Thomas, 1919
    Roy Elmer Thomas & Robert Richard Thomas, 1919
    Roy Elmer Thomas & Iva Florence Deal 1919
    Roy Elmer Thomas & Iva Florence Deal 1919
    Roy Elmer Thomas on boardwalk, Atlantic City NJ 1936
    Roy Elmer Thomas on boardwalk, Atlantic City NJ 1936

    Roy E. Thomas (left) and his salesman partner were in Atlantic city to demonstrate the use of Proctor & Gamble shortening at a school for bakers.

    Roy Elmer Thomas said he attended public school through the sixth grade. Even so, he learned to read very well and was an avid reader of newspapers and magazines, especially news and opinion regarding public affairs.

    In 1934 during the "Great Depression," Roy Elmer Thomas demonstrated his ability to speak publicly about the use of shortening and other ingredients in neighborhood bakeries before a dozen men in a conference room at Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati OH.

    Only after he was hired did he learn that these strangers were not fellow bakers, but were managers and vice presidents meeting for an entirely different purpose, possibly for a discussion of marketing Ivory soap! This practical test, an extemporaneous performance by a man with only a sixth grade education, convinced Procter & Gamble to hire Roy Elmer Thomas to teach classes in metropolitan areas, from Kansas City to New York, in the use of P & G's shortening products, known to the homemaker as "Crisco." He also helped "trouble shoot" problems of quality control in the production of bread, pastries, and cakes by large commercial bakeries and experimented in the company's lab in Cincinnati OH with various combinations of ingredients.
    Thomas Cake Shop interior, Redford, Detroit MI abt. 1948
    Thomas Cake Shop interior, Redford, Detroit MI abt. 1948

    Thomas Cake Shop was opened by Roy Elmer Thomas after World War II on Grand River Avenue near Lasher Road, Detroit, Wayne, MI, about a block northwest of Redford Home Bakery, which a year later he sold to an employee and later closed.

    The equipment and display cases were all new, the latest available. A feature of the sales area was the glassed portion on the right side, behind which employees decorated cakes in full view of customers.

    Until the new gas-fired, rotating oven was installed at Thomas Cake Shop, all baking was done in the old stationary coal/gas oven at Redford Home Bakery. Roy Elmer Thomas mounted a cabinet on a trailer and transported baked goods from the old shop to the new.
    Brace Beemer, 'The Lone Ranger,' cuts a cake decorated by Roy Elmer Thomas
    Brace Beemer, "The Lone Ranger," cuts a cake decorated by Roy Elmer Thomas

    A frequent customer of the Thomas Cake Shop in Redford, Detroit, MI was "Brace Beemer (1903-1965), an American radio actor and announcer at radio station WXYZ, Detroit, Michigan."

    Beemer played the role on radio from 1941 to 1954 of the "Lone Ranger." When the "Lone Ranger," at six feet, three inches tall and in his authorative and very recognizable voice, bought a pie or cake, everyone turned his way!

    In this photo, Beemer, with the cast and crew of the radio program, which was always broadcast live, was cutting a cake that he bought at Thomas Cake Shop. The cake was mounted on the plastic stand invented and patented by Roy Elmer Thomas. On top, Roy had placed a plastic statue of "The Lone Ranger" mounted on his "great horse, Silver."
    Plastics!
    Plastics!

    About 1947, some twenty years before Dustin Hoffman's movie character heard that word in the film, "The Graduate," Roy Elmer Thomas was experimenting with the use of clear plastics for the fabrication of wedding cake stands. The ideal stand would be elegant, would support many layers of fragile cake, would allow each layer to be removed individually, would enable the server effortlesly to lift the cake off the stand for serving, and would be easy to disassemble and to return to the bakery for redemption of the deposit.

    His ideas were translated into this design, patented, manufactured, and sold by Plasticles Corporation in Detroit MI. This particular cake, one of his largest, was baked and decorated by Roy Elmer Thomas.

    Roy Richard Thomas Summer 2006
    Roy Elmer Thomas, posed, decorating a wedding cake on a stand he invented.
    Roy Elmer Thomas, posed, decorating a wedding cake on a stand he invented.

    This photo was taken by a professional for advertising the Thomas Cake Shop on Grand River Ave at Six Mile Road in Redford, northwest Detroit MI. The business later moved to Livonia MI and was renamed Thomas Wedding Cakes.

    Roy Richard Thomas Summer 2006
    Roy Elmer Thomas, Iva Florence Thomas, Patricia Ann Thomas 10 Jun 1955
    Roy Elmer Thomas, Iva Florence Thomas, Patricia Ann Thomas 10 Jun 1955

    This photo was taken on the wedding day of Charles Robert Thomas and Carole Ann Burkheiser.
    Roy Elmer Thomas
    Roy Elmer Thomas

    Photo taken Abt. 1957
    Roy Elmer Thomas Abt. 1965
    Roy Elmer Thomas Abt. 1965

    Roy E. Thomas bought two reel-to-reel tape recorders, hired a carpenter to encase dual speakers, and played big band dance music at wedding receptions at which he also provided the wedding cake and other baked goods. He retired from the music business when the young dancers began to prefer rock music.
    Iva & Roy Thomas, music for a wedding reception
    Iva & Roy Thomas, music for a wedding reception
    Thomas Wedding Cake store, Livonia, MI
    Thomas Wedding Cake store, Livonia, MI

    Roy Elmer Thomas left Proctor & Gamble in 1939 to work for a former customer in Detroit MI, where he purchased in 1940 the "Redford Home Bakery," which he renamed in 1946: "Thomas Cake Shop."

    After a few years, he moved the Thomas Cake Shop from Redford, Detroit MI to a suburb, Livonia MI and renamed the business, Thomas Wedding Cakes. Both names appeared on the exterior of the building, as well as his slogan, "Park 'n Peek" at the display of wedding cakes in the windows.

    There were two owners after Roy Elmer Thomas retired in the 1970s. Four years after the last owner closed the business, there was still an internet link to the old phone number, subsequently assigned to the hedquarters of the Model-A Ford Club of America. The Club continued to receive calls from people who wished to order one of Roy Elmer's locally famous wedding cakes.

    Roy Richard Thomas Summer 2006
    Roy E. & Iva F. Thomas home, Livonia MI
    Roy E. & Iva F. Thomas home, Livonia MI

    Their rented home was on the property of and adjacent to the Thomas Wedding Cake store
    Roy Elmer Thomas and Iva Florence Deal 2 Aug 1971
    Roy Elmer Thomas and Iva Florence Deal 2 Aug 1971

    On their 50th Wedding Anniversary, they cut the cake made and decorated by Roy Elmer Thomas himself.
    Roy Elmer Thomas (1898-1982)
    Roy Elmer Thomas (1898-1982)

    Photo taken Jun 1955.
    Roy Elmer Thomas (1898-1982) & Iva Florence Deal (1899-1982), 2 Aug 1971
    Roy Elmer Thomas (1898-1982) & Iva Florence Deal (1899-1982), 2 Aug 1971

    Documents
    Roy Elmer Thomas - Camera.
    Roy Elmer Thomas - Camera.

    Roy Elmer Thomas in 1917-19 owned a folding Kodak camera similiar to this series, had his name (R.E. Thomas) stenciled in white letters on its side, and took pictures with it during his service in the U.S. Navy, mainly at Great Lakes Naval Training Station. In 1945-46 Roy Richard Thomas (I462241), Private 457 FA Bn, took his father's camera to northern Japan for this and other photos.

    Technical data & photo, courtesy of licm.org.uk
    Roy Elmer Thomas newspaper account of the fall 1919
    Roy Elmer Thomas newspaper account of the fall 1919

    Indianapolis, Marion, IN Homecoming Parade
    Roy Elmer Thomas (1898-1982) & Iva Florence Deal (1899-1982) marriage license 1921
    Roy Elmer Thomas (1898-1982) & Iva Florence Deal (1899-1982) marriage license 1921

    "Certified copy of marriage license"
    Roy Elmer Thomas - Cake Recipe and Lesson on Toughening and Tenderizing Ingredients
    Roy Elmer Thomas - Cake Recipe and Lesson on Toughening and Tenderizing Ingredients

    Roy Elmer Thomas wrote, during a casual conversation with his son and daughter-in-law, Charles and Carole Thomas, this list of ingredients (probably for white cake) and his explanation of the reaction of certain ingredients.

    Roy Richard Thomas May 2007

    Census Records
    Roy Elmer Thomas (1898-1982)
    Roy Elmer Thomas (1898-1982)

    U.S. Census Indianapolis, Marion County, IN 1920:

    "Roy Thomas, single, lodger in rooming house, age 21 b. Abt. 1899 Indiana, father b. Indiana mother b. Kentucky [sic; Indiana], baker in store."
    Roy Elmer Thomas (1898-1982)
    Roy Elmer Thomas (1898-1982)

    U.S. Census Indianapolis, Marion County, IN 1930:

    "Roy E. Thomas, age 31 b. Abt. 1899 Indiana, father b. Indiana mother b. Kentucky, baker-retail grocery store, wife Iva F., age 30 b. Abt. 1900 [sic; Indiana] Indiana parents b. Indiana; one child b. Indiana: Roy R. 3. Lodger: Hollis Porter, single, age 23 b. Abt. 1907 Indiana, delivery-grocery store. [Roy and Hollis worked as bakers at D.O. Taylor's grocery.]
    Roy Elmer Thomas (1898-1982)
    Roy Elmer Thomas (1898-1982)

    U.S. Census Detroit, Wayne County, MI 1940"

    "Roy E. Thomas, age 42 b. Abt. 1948 Indiana, residence in 1935: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH, experimental research-bakery, wife Iva F., age 40 b. Abt. 1900 Indiana; three children: Roy Richard 13 b. Indiana, Charles Robert 5 b. Ohio, Patricia Ann 3 b. Ohio."