[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 21, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E721]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





  HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF THE HONORABLE RUSSELL THOMAS, JR., 
                   FORMER MAYOR OF AMERICUS, GEORGIA

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 21, 2026

  Mr. BISHOP. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart, but with 
profound gratitude, to honor the life and legacy of one of Southwest 
Georgia's most devoted public servants, the Honorable Russell Thomas, 
Jr., former Mayor of Americus, Georgia, who departed this life on 
Wednesday, July 8, 2026, at the age of 91. A memorial service 
celebrating his extraordinary life will be held on Tuesday, July 21, 
2026, at Americus First Methodist Church, with Reverend Tom Dowdy and 
Reverend Daryl Brown officiating.
  Russell Thomas, Jr. was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on November 22, 
1934, to Dr. Russell Thomas and Margaret Camp Thomas. In 1939, the 
family returned to Dr. Thomas's hometown of Americus, and from that day 
forward, Russell Thomas and Americus, Georgia belonged to one another. 
He graduated from Americus High School in 1952, earned a degree in 
Agricultural Management from Auburn University, where he was a member 
of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, and completed his military service as a 
medic in the United States Army Reserve.
  Mayor Thomas built his career in agriculture and forestry, owning 
Thomas Farms, Inc. with his family and founding or co-owning Americus 
Creosote Company, T&T Logging, and Georgia Forest Products. But to 
Russell Thomas, the land was never merely a business. Long before 
conservation of the longleaf pine ecosystem became a national cause, he 
was protecting the native longleaf stands at Thomas Farms, quietly 
practicing the belief that productive timber management and wildlife 
conservation should go hand in hand. He was a steward in the oldest and 
truest sense of the word--a man who understood that we do not really 
own the land; we hold it in trust for our children.
  The people of Americus first elected Russell Thomas, Jr. as their 
Mayor in November 1979. and he served from 1980 to 1988. They called 
him back in 1993, and he served again from 1994 to 2001--fifteen years 
in all of steady, visionary, and selfless leadership. In his first 
term, he worked with the City Council to confront substandard housing 
and expand housing opportunity. He would later join with Millard Fuller 
and Habitat for Humanity on the Sumter County Initiative, an audacious 
campaign to eliminate substandard housing in Americus and Sumter 
County--a partnership that helped make our corner of Georgia a beacon 
to the world for what neighbors can accomplish when they take up 
hammers and hope together.
  Mayor Thomas may be best remembered for leading the multi-year effort 
to restore the historic Windsor Hotel. When many said the grand old 
landmark could not be saved, Russell Thomas simply refused to give up--
and today the Windsor stands as the crown jewel of downtown Americus, a 
monument in brick and mortar to one man's stubborn faith in his 
hometown. He was likewise instrumental in the restoration of the 
Rylander Theatre, establishing it as the center of the performing arts 
in Americus, for which he received the Lifetime Friend of the Rylander 
Award in 2016. Under his leadership, in 2000, Americus was designated 
one of the first ten Georgia Cities of Excellence. In 1994, in 
recognition of his public service, the City of Americus named its 
public safety building the Russell Thomas, Jr. Public Safety Building--
an honor rarely bestowed upon the living and richly deserved.
  His service extended far beyond City Hall. He served on the Americus 
Board of Education from 1972 to 1980; as chairman of the Sumter County 
Board of Tax Assessors from 1976 to 1980; on the board of directors of 
The Charles L. Mix Memorial Fund, including more than twenty years as 
its chairman; on the South Georgia Technical College Foundation Board 
of Trustees; and on the governing board of the Rosalynn Carter 
Institute at Georgia Southwestern State University. Elected to the 
Board of Directors of Citizens Bank of Americus in 1985, he served as 
Chairman of the Board from 1985 to 1999--a period in which the bank was 
rated the number one community bank in Georgia--and remained on the 
board until 2025, serving his community's financial wellbeing across 
five decades.
  Mr. Speaker, the record of offices held, and buildings restored tells 
us what Russell Thomas did. But it does not tell us who he was. Who he 
was could be found in his office at the back of the old Americus 
Hardware Store--another of his renovations--where, long past the age 
when most men retire, friends and neighbors stopped by daily to talk 
politics, business, and the affairs of the town he loved. Who he was 
could be found in his backyard, where this former mayor and bank 
chairman raised tomatoes and waged a good-natured annual contest with 
the backyard animals to see who could reach the ripe ones first. And 
who he was could be found riding the dirt backroads of Thomas Farms in 
his old Tahoe, with his faithful dog Barnabas at his side.
  It is said that throughout his life, and in its most difficult times, 
Russell found solace and peace driving those backroads. And Mr. 
Speaker, I would ask my colleagues to sit with that image for a moment. 
Here was a man who buried a beloved wife, Andrea, after forty-five 
years of marriage; a man who bore the deepest grief a parent can know 
in the loss of his son, Russell, III; a man who carried the weight of a 
city on his shoulders for fifteen years. And when the sorrows came--as 
they come to every life--he did not grow bitter, and he did not 
withdraw from the people. He drove out to the land, under the longleaf 
pines he had protected, with his dog beside him, and he made his 
peace--and then he came back to his beloved Americus, and went back to 
work, and kept on serving. That quiet resilience, that faithfulness 
that outlasted heartbreak, is the truest measure of the man, and it is 
the inheritance he leaves to all of us who remain.
  Russell Thomas, Jr. was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Andrea 
Patterson Thomas; his son, Russell Thomas, III; his parents, Dr. 
Russell Thomas and Margaret Camp Thomas; his sister, Margaret T. 
Sullivan; and his brothers, Frank Gordon Thomas and John Laurence 
Thomas. He leaves to cherish his memory his children, Mary Frances 
``Mimi'' Thomas, Anne Camp Thomas, Beth Thomas Cheek (James), and John 
Braxton Thomas; his daughter-in-law, Angie Ballard Thomas; eight 
grandchildren: ten great-grandchildren; and a host of nieces, nephews, 
cousins, stepchildren, extended family, and friends who loved him 
dearly.
  Mr. Speaker, the Scriptures teach us in Matthew 25:21, ``Well done, 
thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few 
things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the 
joy of thy lord.'' Russell Thomas, Jr. was faithful--faithful to his 
family, faithful to his land, faithful to his hometown, and faithful to 
the God he served. On behalf of my wife, Vivian and the more than 
765,000 residents of Georgia's 2nd Congressional District, I extend my 
deepest condolences to the Thomas family, and I ask my colleagues to 
join me in honoring the life, the legacy, and the extraordinary public 
service of the Honorable Russell Thomas, Jr.--Mayor, steward, builder, 
and friend--a good and faithful servant who has entered into the joy of 
his Lord.

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