Obituaries

A son, Garnett B. Weatherford Jr., died in 2004.

Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Florence Morrison Weatherford of Alexandria; three children, Stephen W. Weatherford Sr., Elaine M. Eldridge and John G. Weatherford Sr., all of Alexandria; two sisters, Thelma Snead and Betty Atkinson, both of Danville; a brother, D.D. Weatherford Jr. of Danville; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandsons.

-- Adam Bernstein

Ralph C. Thomas Jr.FDA Official, Singer, Minister

Ralph Charles Thomas Jr., 84, a Food and Drug Administration official, band singer and ordained minister, died June 26 at Prince George's Hospital Center. He had congestive heart failure.

The Rev. Thomas spent 16 years with the FDA before retiring in 1986 as an assistant branch chief focusing on testing food safety. From 1953 to 1970, he was an Army Department civilian doing microbiology work based at Fort Detrick in Frederick.

He was born in Frederick, where he was a 1940 graduate of Lincoln High School. He served in the Army Air Forces in the Pacific during World War II and then attended Virginia Union University in Richmond.

As a singer, he appeared on radio and television talent shows and at functions for dignitaries. He was best known regionally for his work as a singer with the Dick Harp band, a jazz and R&B combo.

In the mid-1970s, Rev. Thomas became a born-again Christian and made church singing the focus of his performing schedule. He recorded an album of traditional hymns that played on Christian radio stations nationwide.

In 1991, he and his wife were ordained as Baptist ministers and toured the South as evangelical singers. He also became the chaplain of a nursing home in Stafford. He was associate pastor of King's Highway Baptist Church in Fredericksburg before moving to Upper Marlboro in 2003.

Survivors include his wife of 61 years, the Rev. Dorothy Easley Thomas of Upper Marlboro; five children, Frank T. Thomas of Temple Hills, Bruce R. Thomas of Brooklyn Park and Lelia R. Stewart, Ralph C. Thomas III and Alana M. Thornton, all of Upper Marlboro; two brothers, Lawrence Thomas of Frederick and Clarence Thomas of Bandon, Ore.; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.