Shawn Marie Thomas

On Monday, November 16, 2020 Shawn Thomas (aka Shawnee, Shawny-wahny-bon-bon, ShawnT, and Thomas) went home to be with our Lord at the age of 38. She was preceded in death by her grandfather’s James Boersma and Russell O’Neill. She is survived by her grandmothers (Carole Boersma, Ginger O’Neill) parents (Jeff & Ailyn Thomas, Charlie & Cathy Collie), her sisters (Ashley Gill, Meghan Villegas) her half-brother (Walter Thomas), stepbrothers/sisters (Thomas Collie, Sarah Smith, Althea Thomas and Angel Thomas), and countless friends.

Shawn grew up in Palmdale, California where she was heavily invested in the Westview children’s church ministries and joked about how to get fired from a volunteer job. After graduating high school Shawn moved to Redding, Ca. to earn her bachelor’s degree in Divinity from Simpson University. In Redding Shawn continued her pursuit of God, learned how to kayak, and how to share an apartment with her sister, Ashley.

Upon graduating Simpson, Shawn joined the Army where she eventually worked as an intelligence analyst in South Korea and in Afghanistan. After her honorable discharge in 2013, Shawn packed up all her personal belongings into a red Ford Focus and drove to Virginia to begin working for the Department of Homeland Security. She never looked back.

Shawn loved children. From working with children at Westview Church and Accelerated Learning Academy to squirt gun wars and Switch parties with her nieces and nephews, Shawn always looked for new and creative ways to play. Shawn especially loved Ayden and Amelia; they were the light of her life.

Shawn loved her fur-baby, Abbey. First known as FNU LNU (First Name Unknown, Last Name Unknown), Shawn said that she adopted the pit bull to match her furniture. They enjoyed car rides, the park, and Abby always reminded Shawn to get the pup-cup at Starbucks.

Shawn loved her bougie-house. She liked loved the community, the parks, the food truck nights, and looked forward to family camping night in the park. She especially loved her solar gnomes and giggled that she was becoming an old lady.

Shawn loved gifting people. From singing telegrams, to stars, to pieces of shrapnel, Shawn was always on the lookout for new and unusual ways to make people smile. Most importantly, Shawn gave herself willingly and unselfishly.

Shawn loved adventure. She jumped out of perfectly good airplanes for fun, enjoyed helicopter flights, planned to go shark-cage diving, to rent an Air BNB in Shenandoah, and to take a road trip without a destination.

Shawn loved all people and had an innate ability to put her own thoughts and feelings aside and do the right thing regardless of the circumstances. She was one of the first to welcome her new stepmother into the family and regularly sent Christmas gifts to the stepsisters and half-brother she never met.
A funeral service will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, December 11, 2020 at the Chester Chapel of J.T. Morriss & Son Funeral Home. Interment will follow in Sunset Memorial Park, Chester, VA.

Shawn is greatly missed by everyone that had the privilege of knowing her. Condolences may be registered at www.jtmorriss.com