BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Freddie Thomas Sr. died on June 19th at 90-years-old. His family will continue his legacy through a foundation to support college students.
- Video shows photos of Pastor Freddie Thomas Sr. and Jerusalem Mission Community Church
- The family of pastor Freddie Thomas Sr. will remember him after he died on June 19th at his celebration of life ceremony on Saturday in East Bakersfield.
Freddie Thomas Sr., the pastor of Jerusalem Mission Community Church, died on June 19th, but his impact on the community continues as his family and congregation remember him.
“Just sing it like he would sing it,” Dorothy Thomas, Freddie Thomas Sr.'s wife said as she prepared to sing one of his favorite songs with her son.
As Dorothy and Freddie Thomas II turn their eyes to heaven, to praise their heavenly father.
Thomas II sings this song to also honor his father.
“Anytime you’d see him around, he was always singing or praying for someone, and he put others before himself,” Thomas II said.
He tells me his dad spent his final moment among family.
“We laid him down turned him over, and he took a breath," Dorothy said. "It wasn’t a breath like he usually just breath, and we turned him over and he took his last breath. We were there with him.”
He was 90 years old.
“I didn’t want it to leave this soon," she said, adding you can never truly prepare for a moment like that.
“I kept expecting him to take another breath," Thomas II said. "It didn’t feel like it was happening in the moment.”
He says his dad left behind a vision to expand the church and serve the youth in our community.
“When he first started the church, it started as a youth training center, and so his vision was to guide and serve the youth, and I kind of want to continue in that.”
In his honor, they started the Dr. Freddie Louis Thomas Sr. Foundation to support college students in their studies.
“We’ve already given 3 scholarships for college students that were college bound already,” Dorothy said
To remember him, they’ll keep singing one of his favorite sayings.
“He always used to say, I’ve got a feeling everything’s gonna be alright,” Thomas II said.
His celebration of life ceremony will be held at St. Peter's Restoration Community Christian Ministries at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
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