Ervin Thomas

Ervin L. Thomas
Born	August 12, 1929 Detroit, Michigan, USA
Died	May 1, 2023 Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
NSA member	Colombia 1961 - 1963 Mariana Islands ???? - ????

Ervin L. Thomas (August 12, 1929 - May 1, 2023) was an American Bahá’í who pioneered to Colombia and served on the National Spiritual Assembly of Colombia.

Background

Thomas was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1929 to Charles Curtiss and Cornelia Thomas and was the eleventh of twelve children. He completed his education in Detroit serving as president of the Latin Club and a delegate in the Model United Nations at his high school and also became a page for the Michigan State Senator Arthur E. Wood and Lieutenant Governor Eugene C. Keys. He also worked for his fathers construction company learning how to work as a builder.

After completing further studies at Highland Park Junior College Thomas enlisted in the United States Air Force serving until being honorably discharged upon the passing of his father. He settled in Detroit where he began serving as a city building inspector and in his profession he supervised the relocation of a Church which prompted him to begin investigating religion ultimately leading him to become a Bahá’í by 1954.

At some point Thomas married Wilma Roberts, although they later divorced, and in 1954 they pioneered to Peru where Thomas served as the Director of the Peruvian-American Cultural center and as an instructor at the National University of Trujillo. In 1958 Thomas oversaw the translation of The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh into Spanish and in 1959 he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land then toured Bahá’í communities across Europe.

After completing his European travels Thomas pioneered to Colombia settling in Pereira as of 1960 and that year he was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Pereira when it was established. The following year he was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of Colombia. In early 1962 Thomas made a visit back to the United States delivering a talk at a World Religion Day event in Detroit, Michigan, and he moved back to Detroit where he completed an undergraduate degree at Wayne State University. In 1965 he drove from Detroit to Iquitos, Ecuador, to live in the city, and in 1968 he pioneered back to Peru.

In 1969 Thomas returned to the United States where he married Nola Benvenuti in Detroit, then moved to Ann Arbor where he secured a teaching position at Washtenaw Community College and he was a member of the faculty for twenty-seven years, also completing a Masters degree in counseling while working.

In 2008 Thomas and his wife pioneered to Guam where he served as a National Spiritual Assembly member and they remained in the territory until 2011 when they returned to Ann Arbor. They pioneered again to Okinawa, Japan, in 2013, but had to return to Ann Arbor due to illness in 2014. Thomas passed away in Ann Arbor at home in 2023.