Lifelong resident sees many changes in Byron

By Roni Gehlke

"All the people would come on the weekends from San Francisco," she remembered.
Thomas and her family would attend picnics and go swimming in the summer.

On Sept. 23, Thomas celebrated her 99th birthday. Her grandniece, Sandy Fredrickson, gave her a surprise birthday party the weekend before. Fredrickson admitted that although it was a well-deserved celebration in Thomas' honor, it wasn't easy surprising the older woman. Fredrickson and Thomas still live on the same family property in Byron that Thomas has lived in since she married. Fredrickson lives in the house that Thomas' in-laws used to live in right next-door.

The event was celebrated with 50 of Thomas' closest friends and family. Thomas said she was very surprised because her birthday wasn't until the following Wednesday and she wasn't sure if her grandniece even remembered.

Thomas was raised in Byron, first by her parents and then her grandparents after her mother died when she was 10 and her younger sister Hazel was only 2. Thomas, whose maiden name is Volpone, and her husband, Lionel Thomas, were both 1929 graduates of Liberty High School. Although the class was small and she had attended school with Lionel for most of her life, Thomas didn't really know her husband well in those days. The two didn't marry until 1936.
The Thomas family owned a large piece of property that ran down Bixler Road and across Highway 4 where the Safeway shopping center and post office are now located. At the time of Kathryn and Lionel's marriage, the Thomases ran a large dairy, Thomas Dairy. The land was filled with cows and alfalfa.

Both Lionel and his twin brother built homes on the property to stay close to the family and work the farm. Lionel and three of his brothers also worked for the Contra Costa County sheriff's department. The family ran the dairy until Lionel Thomas' father died, then they sold the cows but kept the alfalfa business going. The Thomases used to keep a runway where the post office is now located so that they could do the crop dusting on the farm with their own plane.

Thomas said she never worked on the farm. For years she worked part-time at various stores in the area including the old Chaimes Grocery Store in downtown Byron. She also worked for Pacific Bell Telephone Co.

During her life she has seen a lot of changes in the Byron area. When she was first married there weren't any phone lines that reached the Thomas property. Her husband and his brothers worked to put the telephone and lines up so they could get phone service. The road in front of her property was dirt and she could count only one car going up the street in the morning and one in the afternoon. She said that today she likes to sit on her porch and watch the heavy traffic on her street.

When the building of Discovery Bay began in the 1970s, Thomas said that the sheriff's department offered her husband more hours on the job, but she asked him to decline because she was too nervous to be home alone. For most of her life, Thomas was used to living in a rural farm community where there weren't any houses but family as far as the eye could see. She said that she could see the Discovery Bay properties being built and worried about all of the strangers coming to the area.

Thomas said she didn't have many hobbies, but she did like to cook and bake. She also liked to dance. She and her husband, who had no children, used to drive into Antioch a couple of times a month to go dancing. At the time it was quite a long trek because roads weren't what they are today. She loved shopping with her younger sister. Hazel Silva lived with her husband in Oakley and Thomas enjoyed visiting her in her downtown home. The two ladies would make a day of going dress shopping in Stockton. Thomas said they were lucky to have the Greyhound Bus service to take them where they needed to go. Her husband died in the early 1990s and her sister died a few years ago.

Thomas said she is looking forward to her 100th birthday where she hopes that she will have another chance to celebrate with her family and friends next year.