Wilmina Lolli Thomas, age 96, of Denton, Texas, died peacefully in her sleep from natural causes on 2 December 2023. Lolli was born 10 September 1927 in Cottonwood, Oklahoma to Henry "Red" and Pauline Maggia Lolli. Her parents were Italian immigrants who came through Ellis Island to work in the Oklahoma coal mines, and Lolli was immensely proud of her Italian heritage. When her parents became the owners of Red's Grocery store in Coalgate, Lolli, and her younger siblings Nick and Jeanine, helped them run it. As a teenager, Lolli would leave school to deliver groceries during her lunch hour, driving solo around the Oklahoma countryside, eating the sandwich lunch her mother always had ready for her. Throughout her long life, Lolli remained independent and brave.

After graduating from Coalgate High School, Lolli left her home and boldly rode the train to Dallas to attend St. Paul School of Nursing. On their days off, Lolli and her nursing student friends met and danced with returning World War II servicemen, like handsome Jack Parmer Thomas, of Frisco, Texas, whom she married shortly after her graduation as a Registered Nurse in 1948. She and Jack had four children, raising them in Dallas, Wichita Falls, then finally Denton, Texas. The family mourned the devastating loss of Jack to cancer in 1988.

Interspersing her nursing career and the births of her four children, Lolli worked as a nurse in Dallas, leaving the children with Jack as she worked evening shifts at Baylor Hospital. In 1965, Jack's work moved the family of six to Wichita Falls, and they lived there until 1972 when his work brought them to Denton. There, Lolli returned to ob/gyn nursing, helping two generations of mothers deliver their babies. Some of her patients were daughters of former patients. Many have remained in touch with her until her death.

Always the good and faithful servant, Lolli was a tireless, warm, and selfless caregiver, both professionally to her patients and personally to everyone who knew her. She loved children, played the piano, and was an excellent cook whose homemade raviolis graced every Thanksgiving Day meal for decades. Lolli was a long-time supporter of the Boy Scouts of America, first as a den mother for her sons Mike and Nick in the 1950's, then later for her grandson Jack.  She was an exacting seamstress, needleworker, and gardener. A lover of sports, she played basketball and baseball as a youth, then later excelled at tennis and golf, but baseball - especially her Texas Rangers – was her passion, with her Dallas Cowboys a very close second.

Lolli was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her adored granddaughter Maria Nicole Thomas, and her brother, Nick Lolli. She is survived by her four children, son Mike Thomas and his wife Jody, son Nick Thomas, daughter Barbara Thomas Smith and her husband Sheen, and daughter Nancy Golmon and her husband Jeff; five grandchildren, Anna Thomas, Melissa Thomas Foster and husband Michael, Jack R. Thomas, Meghan Smith Davidson and her husband Matt, and Erin Smith Feges and her husband Patrick; four great-grandchildren, Finleigh and Carsen Foster, Abby Davidson and Wyatt Feges; her sister, Jeanine McFall; her sister-in-law, Sherry Lolli; and many nieces, nephews, and great-nieces and great-nephews.  Lolli will be missed by her much-loved extended family and countless friends.

Lolli was a devoted lifelong Catholic. To celebrate her memory, a rosary will begin at 10:00 AM followed by Mass at 10:30 AM on Monday, 11 December 2023 at St. Mark Catholic Church, 6500 Crawford Road, Argyle, Texas.
Lolli will be interred, at a later date, alongside her beloved Jack at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery in Dallas, Texas.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in memory of Lolli Thomas to Health Services of North Texas ( https://healthservicesntx.org ).

To watch the recorded video of the service. Please clink the link below.

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