Cecilia Marie Thomas, affectionately known as "Cil" or "Cecil" was born October 18, 1946 in Okmulgee, Oklahoma to Cecil and Everyln Asberry.  She was the eldest of the four children and though she loved her mother, the sun rose and set by her namesake, her father.  She was baptized at an early age and raised by parents of strong Christian faiths.  Yes, her mother was a devout CME stewardess who served in a number of roles in the church and her father had the same dedication in service to our Lord as a Baptist deacon.  She played alto saxophone for the high school's marching band and was proud of placing second in statewide competition.  One of her granddaughters, Annis, would follow in her footsteps playing the same instrument for a few years. She graduated from Dunbar High school , Okmulgee, Oklahoma in 1964.  Upon graduating high school, she attended Lincoln University in Jefferson City, MO for a year.  She decided that she was ready to strike out on her own and moved to Cleveland, Ohio to stay with her Aunt Birdie, who was a hairdresser there.  She loved her Aunties on both sides of her family and corrected us several times that it was Aunt Mary Alice, not Aunt Maralice, as the kids called her. She spoke often of riding horses and fishing with her Grandma on occasion.  She was quiet, pensive and could be described as a day dreamer, sometimes lost in her thoughts.  This would help her achieve goals she set in her life.

She decided to return home and brought into this world her oldest daughter, Sherrie.  She soon married Everett "Shug" Parker and they all became a family. To this union she brought Sherrie, whom Shug loved as his own,  and were born Kimberly and Allyson.  If you knew her, she called her children her jewels, her treasure in life.  She and her sister raised their kids practically as brothers and sisters rather than first cousins.  She loved her whole family and would do anything within her power for anyone within it.  The family vacations consisted of going to see family because that was her world.  She enjoyed being around her brothers and sister and they had a lot of good times together.  She was a single mom for several years and later in life, married Merle Thomas.  Cecilia and Merle were together for over 20 years.

Cecilia worked for the County assessor's office in Okmulgee.  Once she moved to Tulsa, after her marriage to Shug, she worked at Bell telephone for a period of time.  When she started with Sun Oil/Sunoco DX, working at the refinery, she was a trailblazer as part of the first black crews to work in the Tulsa refinery.  She made great friends in people like Butch, Brenda and many others during her tenure at Sun.  She promoted into several positions including a supervisor and ending her career initially as a project manager after 26 years with the company.  She  came back to work as a project consultant for a short time after retirement.  She was proud of her career and the life she made for her children on her own.  Between the annual company picnics for Sun and Williams, her children and Ann's spent so much time at Bell's amusement park, they had the fairway memorized.  It was the same with family trips to Kansas City, enjoying Worlds of Fun.

She was one of the Miller's Drillers moms for the drill team when her daughters were in elementary school.  That meant sewing, or trying to sew costumes, well, paying someone to sew the uniforms, finding white marching boots and shoe polish and taking her children to all the parades and events to perform.  When Kim was a cheerleader, starting as a mascot for Anderson, she supported her as well.  When Allyson, her baby, was badly injured in a car accident her senior year, she found strength in God and gave her best effort to help her recover.  Her love for bull-riding and rodeos in general started way back with attending the annual Boley and Okmulgee rodeos and parades with her children and extended family.

When she first moved to Tulsa, she joined St. Andrews Baptist church under the pastoral care of Rev. George A. Webb.  She lived right around the corner, so she and her children were involved in all activities there.  She would follow Rev. Webb and join Rose of Sharon Baptist church, continuing in the choir and being an active member of the congregation there as well.  She joined Paradise Church later in her life as well and became an usher and active member there.  She would be lead to follow God under a different faith with her marriage to Merle and also to answer the call to ministry.

She married Merle Thomas Feb. 22, 2003 at Paradise Baptist Church.  She converted and joined Varick chapel AME shortly after their union.  When they met she was coming upon retirement and began doing what she had always wanted to do, travel.  They took many trips to Arizona, Vegas and a cruise to Alaska.  With the ministry, they travelled throughout the South/Southwest part of the country.  On the cruise to Alaska, she was fascinated with seeing killer whales, orcas.  They spent quite a bit of time on a small  excursion boat waiting and looking with no luck.  She commented that she could hear them and that they were all around.  Merle, and others,  didn't believe her and before they knew it, they were surrounded by whale pod after pod, revealing to her and all that were on the excursion they were there.

She was an avid PBR fan and she and Merle travelled to the finals in Las Vegas many times.  She would greet the riders because she knew them by name and minister to them. They knew her as a big fan of the sport and of each of them.

While at Varick she was called to the ministry with Pastor John W. Forbes who she lovingly refers to as her father in the ministry.  God revealed to him something special in her and he provided encouragement and a path to serve God in the ministry.  Her first role of service, after much study, was as an Exhorter, the local preacher.  When asked about her ministry, she would exclaim that God told her she would be "the voice of thunder."  In 2007, Bishop Hunter ordained her a deacon in the AME Zion church.  In 2008, Bishop Starnes ordained her as an Elder and at the recommendation of then Presiding Elder Forbes, she was assigned as Pastor of Greater Jones AME Zion church in Okmulgee.  She served the congregation for 6 years.  In 2016, Bishop Mildred Hines assigned her to Pastor Varick chapel in Tulsa and elevated her to Presiding Elder of the Oklahoma conference where she led churches in Tulsa, Okmulgee and Oklahoma City.  When she could no longer perform the duties of presiding Elder, Bishop Erick Leake appointed her conference Evangelist. She would resign her position as presiding Elder in 2022.  After ordination, she and Merle travelled out -of-state to several state conferences in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas.  They even had the occasion to attend conferences in Jackson, MI and the Bahamas.    She had a heart for the home insecure and would give above and beyond to help meet their needs.  Anyone that knew her would know that she was generous to a fault and her kindness to strangers knew no bounds.

Cecilia was preceded in death by her parents, Cecil and Everlyn Asberry, her brother Everett and her sister Ann.

Since it pleased the Lord to end her suffering here on earth, she was welcomed by a host of witnesses in family and friends.  She leaves to cherish her memory her devoted husband Merle Thomas; her loving children, Sherrie (Lester) Asberry-Thompson, Tulsa, OK; Kimberly Parker, Dallas, TX; Allyson(Keenan) Parker, Tulsa, OK; her baby brother, Emmett Asberry, Dallas, TX; her sister-in-law, Fonda (Everett) Asberry, Lee Summit, MO; her sisters-in-law, Vanessa (Saddler) Jackson and Valerie (Saddler) Tillis, both Tulsa, OK; her brothers-in-law Horace Alfred Saddler, Jr. (Cassandra) Saddler and Marcus Thomas (Shirley) ; 8 grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins and a host of other relatives and friends.

The Celebration of Life for Mrs. Cecilia Thomas will be Saturday August 26, 2023 AT 11AM at Varick Chapel AME Zion - 2716 N. Yorktown Ave. Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Friends may visit Mrs. Thomas as she Rests on Friday August 25, 2023 in the Tulsa Chapel from 1PM until 6PM.

Floral arrangements and cards will also be accepted during this time.