Nina Mercy Hills Thomas

WEST STEWARTSTOWN - Nina Mercy Hills Thomas, 102 years old, died on May 9, 2018 at the Coos County Nursing Hospital in West Stewartstown NH. She was born on December 14, 1915 in San Francisco, California. Ever since she was a young girl she loved writing. She sent in stories to "Aunt Elsie's Page" in the children's section of the Oakland Tribune for which she won several small prizes. She also wrote a play that her school put on and was sent on stage as the audience called "Author, Author!"

She graduated from High School in 1933 and worked her way through Beauty School by scrubbing floors and doing other maintenance work. She worked as a Beauty Operator (hairdresser) for 7 years but claims she was never very good at it!

When she was 24, her sister, who lived in Lanikai on the Island of Oahu, wrote a letter to her and said "Nina, come to Hawaii, this is where all the men are. There are sailors, marines, coast guard, a hundred single men for every girl." She arrived in Honolulu on June 30 1941 on "the marvelous ship called the Monterey." She did have many dates, in fact on one occasion four in one day. One for breakfast, one for lunch, one for an afternoon movie and one for dinner.

She applied for and accepted a secretarial position at Pearl Harbor and lived at Fernhurst, run by the YWCA, which housed about 200 girls. When Pearl Harbor was attacked on Sunday December 7, 1941, she and seven of her friends climbed onto the roof of the building to "watch the dog fights" between the airplanes, and were promptly chastised by their housemother and told to stay inside. When she went to work the next day she was sobered by the devastation and reality of the situation.

On May 9, 1943 she married an army man, Frank N. (Larry) Thomas. After her first child was born she became a stay at home mom until her children were in school. "Larry was a good provider and even helped with dirty diapers." She resumed her writing and wrote a weekly column titled "Lines from Aina Haina", in a mid-week paper. She also was published in "Family Circle", was a featured author in "Paradise of the Pacific," and was the Assistant editor for "Sunset Magazine."

Her philosophy in life was to "greet each day with high expectations and feel blessed. No matter how tragic something may have been in the past, it's over, there's nothing you can do about it. All you can do is keep on living, day to day to day. That's how I've been able to keep on going. I also believe in the old saying that 'You're just about as happy as you make up your mind to be' and that 'Attitude is everything'." All those who know her know she lived her philosophy. She enjoyed volunteering in many places, playing the piano at home, was active in Brownies and Girl Scouts, and loved knitting, which she willing taught to any grandchild wanting to learn.

She was predeceased by her husband Frank N. (Larry) Thomas and her son Larry H. (Buster) Thomas. She is survived by her daughter Carol Jean (Koko) Thomas of Phoenix, AZ, her daughter Susan L. Irwin and her husband Roger of Maidstone, VT, seven grandchildren, Susan Maiwela Porter of NY, Karen Stone of W. Lebanon, NH, Nalani Porter of Phoenix AZ, Alicia Bender and her husband Lee of Lindon, UT, Lyn Maile Schmucker and her husband Adam of Maidstone, VT, Jared Irwin and his wife Kelly of Berlin, NH, and Keli Tague of Weare, NH, 18 great grandchildren, Brian, Nathan, Tia, Marisa, Devyn, James, Anne and her husband Fernando Mena, Hannah, Elena, Keegan, Brynne, Samuel, Gillian, Simon, Greta, Reid, Payton and Calvin, and 5 great great grandchildren, Koda, Tyson, Blythe, Sadie and Bailey.

An open house celebrating Nina's life will be held at the Irwin Farm at 1174 Route 102 between the hours of 11 am to 2 pm on Saturday, May 26, 2018. Feel free to stop in during those hours to share memories or just visit. In Lieu of flowers, please donate to your favorite charity.