Keeping county history alive

KateLynn Slaamot
NLJ Correspondent
 
For one former Newcastle resident and Newcastle High School alumnus, the history of Weston County is too rich to stay hidden away and out of sight. Although Lloyd Thomas moved away from Newcastle several years ago, that hasn’t stopped him from sharing pictures of the area and its people from times past on his personal Facebook page. 
The current Redding, California, resident was a member of the class of 1974 at NHS, he said, but he graduated in Nemo, South Dakota, from a trade school after 1973. He married his wife, Kim, in 1974, and together they have one son, Leroy. Thomas and his family moved to California in 1986, when he was offered a job there. 
One of Thomas’ cherished early childhood memories was attending kindergarten in the old high school, which was built in 1890 but burned down in 1975. Then, from first grade to sixth, he attended Gertrude Burns Elementary School. 
“I won second place in the science fair there (elementary school) for my crystal radio. (It) played KASL constantly,” Thomas said. He added that because it didn’t need any
batteries, he listened to it for many years. 
Thomas did well in track, and he could run a mile in five minutes and six seconds. He enjoyed time with all his school friends, he said.  
Barbara Thomas was his mother, and he has two sisters, Cecilia and Diana. Barbara helped launch the Weston County Humane Society, and she also worked at the hospital. According to Thomas, she “probably was in on the delivery of many born in Weston County.” 
Growing up without a father, who passed away due to an oil field accident months before Thomas was born, Thomas said the community of Newcastle had a vast impact on him. 
Thomas cited Psalms 68:5 in the Bible, which speaks of being a father to the fatherless, as a virtue that the people of Newcastle embodied. 
“The good people of Newcastle followed that principle and encouraged me with kindness and guidance, but also discipline when needed,” Thomas said. “I wouldn’t want to have grown up anywhere else.”
His affection towards the community gave Thomas a desire to continue to share in it and its past. Especially after discovering more about the area’s history, Thomas wanted to find out even more and share it with others, so that it’s not forgotten. 
Early homesteaders and their strength and resolve are a particular area of interest for Thomas. 
“They had to be tough and determined people to go through what some did and build something from nothing. Just a piece of land out in the middle of nowhere. No cars, no electricity, just horses, a wagon and some tools. They had to build on that land to keep it,” Thomas said. 
Thomas is also fascinated with the history of Cambria’s coal mines and the hand they played in the American railroad. 
While Thomas shares a lot about the history of Weston County, he also shares old class photos. Thomas discovers most of his findings on the internet. 
He enjoys his unique way of staying in touch with the community, Thomas said, and although his relatives here have passed on, he still enjoys visiting occasionally. 
“It was a great place to grow up that has such a rich history of the real people who helped build the West and still hold the many good values that seem to be lost in much of the world today,” Thomas said.