Francis P. Thomas Jr., 83

Francis P. Thomas Jr., 83, who rose from driving gasoline trucks to helping design control rooms in nuclear power plants, died of pneumonia Feb. 3 at St. Mary Manor in Lansdale, where he had lived since 2007.

One of his sons is the Most Rev. Daniel E. Thomas, an auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia, who, among other things, oversees the diocesan seminary and newspaper.

"He did not graduate high school," Bishop Thomas said of his father. "He left high school to support his family.

"What defined him was . . . a profound sense of responsibility, a work ethic, and an extraordinary devotion to his wife, his family, and his church."

The other son, Francis P. Thomas III, is first vice president and general auditor of the wealth-management firm Glenmede Trust Co.

Francis Thomas said that his father, born in South Philadelphia, attended Edward W. Bok Technical High School and was an electrician in the Army Air Forces in 1944 and 1945.

Mr. Thomas began his career with Atlantic Refining Co., where, Francis Thomas said, "he drove trucks that delivered gasoline to the stations" from 1946 to 1965.

He had taken mechanical drawing classes in high school, so when Mr. Thomas worked from 1965 to 1970 for a Center City firm, Catalytic Construction Co., Francis Thomas said, "it was with the understanding he would take additional classes" in the evenings at the Engineers Club of Philadelphia.

After Mr. Thomas joined United Engineers & Constructors, Francis Thomas said, he returned to the club as a teacher one or two nights a week.

In 1992, Mr. Thomas retired as an instrument-design supervisor with United Engineers. "For the last seven, eight years" there, Francis Thomas said, "he was working on big nuclear power plants. He designed the instrument panels that controlled the reactors."

A fourth-degree Knight of Columbus, Mr. Thomas had helped set up the Catholic Petroleum Guild while at Atlantic to sponsor spiritual retreats.

Mr. Thomas lived in Manayunk from 1960 to 2000, then at Sacred Heart Manor in East Mount Airy before moving to Lansdale.

Besides his sons, Mr. Thomas is survived by a grandson and a granddaughter. His wife of 51 years, Anna, died in 2004.

A viewing was set from 9 to 11 a.m. tomorrow at Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, 234 Hermitage St., Manayunk, followed by an 11 a.m. Funeral Mass. Burial is to be in Westminster Cemetery.