William L. Thomas Jr. passed away at his home in Melbourne, Fla., at the age of 99 on March 25, 2021. He was preceded in death by his wife Margaret. He is survived by his daughters, Wendy Breithaupt (Keith) and Sue Adams (Bruce, predeceased); son, James (Monica); two granddaughters, Amy Carver (Chris) and Leah Duncan (Jason); step-granddaughter, Rebecca Giles (Joseph); great-grandson, Jonathan Thomas Duncan, and two step great-grandchildren, Gunner Lowery and Shelby Giles.

For his entire life, he carried with him a family characteristic of strength through kindnesses as borne by his parents from Mathews County and Norfolk, Virginia. As a child, he was taught that kindness was a virtue. He carried that to all corners of the earth on all continents in over 60 countries from his WWII days as an officer in the Army Air Corps in India-Burma, to his overseas travels working as a civilian for the U.S. Navy, to his personal travels with his wife and family. Patience, kindness, gratitude and love shined so ever humbly in his presence. From whatever walk of life those who met him were received with a calm reassurance.

During his career as a civil servant primarily at Naval Station Norfolk, he grew in responsibility to oversee the planning and programming for facility maintenance and management for the U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet covering the U.S. and Europe. Upon his retirement from civil service, he was regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities of large scale, multi-operations facilities management. After retiring from his work with the Navy, he was a consultant with Applied Management Engineering (AME) in Virginia Beach, Va., assisting federal, state and local governments, universities and other institutions on programmatic facilities management.

His love of family will endure time. Services will be a private family ceremony. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to your favorite local family service organization.

Condolences at afcfcare.com.