Twylah R. Thomas,78, of New Knoxville, Ohio, died Friday, July 3, 2009, at Otterbein Cridersville Nursing Home, following a brief illness.

She was born September 12, 1930, in Auglaize County, the daughter of Richard and Mary (Howell) Eschmeyer.

She married Walter “Red” Thomas on June 1, 1952; he preceded her in death on September 7, 2007.

She is survived by her two sisters; Ruth (Gene) Opperman of New Knoxville; Donna Larson of New Knoxville; by one nephew, Mark (Edie) Opperman of Boktins; two nieces: Michelle Niemeyer of New Knoxville and Lori (Norman) Draper of Cincinnati.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, and by one sister, Martha Eschmeyer.

Twylah graduated from New Knoxville High School in 1948 and went on to graduate from Miami Valley Hospital School of Nursing, Dayton, Ohio, in 1951. She spent the next nine years working with general practitioner Dr. McElroy in Celina, Ohio.

In 1960 Twylah and her husband moved to Arizona where she worked in psychiatry. They then moved to Riverside, California where she continued her nursing career in Critical Care Nursing. She began training at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California, where she also taught a new medical\nursing care course in Cardiac Care. She returned to Riverside, California and opened the first Coronary Care Unit in Riverside. She continued on as director of the Unit until 1976.

The last twenty-one years of her nursing career were spent in El Paso, Texas. For the first 14 years of that tenure, she served as Director of a combined Medical-Surgical Intensive Care and Cardiovascular Unit. She then had the opportunity to serve as Associate Director of Nursing in one of the major medical facilities in El Paso.

Twylah retired from nursing in 1997, when she and her husband moved back to New Knoxville to be with family. Once back in New Knoxville, she enjoyed the life of a retiree. However, she was happiest during retirement when she worked part time as a nurse at Joint Township Hospital in Saint Marys, Ohio.

Funeral rites will be held 2:30 P.M. Tuesday, July 7, 2009, at the Vornholt-Miller Funeral Home, 200 West Spring Street, New Knoxville, the Very Reverend Dr. David Williams, officiant. Burial will follow at Evangelical Protestant Cemetery in New Knoxville.

Friends may call from 5-8 P.M. Monday at the funeral home, where memorial donations may be made to the Radio Broadcast Fund of the First United Church of Christ, in New Knoxville.