The family of Kissimmee’s Clara Helen Thomas celebrated her 100th birthday with her Friday at the home she’s lived in for generations.
“I’ve lived here for 71 years,” she said of the home right off John Young Parkway—which was just a road without a name in the 1950s before becoming Bermuda Avenue and then later got the name when it connected to the major road out of Orlando.
“The neighborhood’s changed a little bit,” she said Friday. “For the better, I think so.”
Clara’s is a life that has spanned the Roaring 20s, the Great Depression, World War II through the Civil Rights movement and the cultural shifts of the 1970s and ’80s to the technological era of today.
Through all that, Clara and her late husband Roy Lee Thomas were and have been part of the historical fabric of an evolving Kissimmee.
Born Feb. 13, 1926 in Lake Wales, Clara and Roy came to Kissimmee in 1947 and immediately made an impact. Per the family, Roy was the city’s first Black building contractor, and he and Clara were able to acquire land and build homes for fellow African-Americans. The first home became a rooming house which Clara managed for nearly 30 years near what is now John Young and Oak Street.
“We welcomed some fine people,” Clara recalled.
Later on, she’d send her daughter Cheryl to an all-White school right as a quiet but powerful act of courage in a community that, for the most part, accepted integration. It was that same community that welcomed her as a licensed cosmetologist. As just the third African-American hairstylist in Kissimmee when she started, Clara operated a beauty salon from her home for 15 years.
In many ways, Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church served as another home. That’s where Clara served as a Sunday School teacher, Deaconess, Counselor, and member of a musical group founded by Roy, who also built the church’s current sanctuary.
“She enjoys crossword puzzles and keeps her mind sharp and active,” daughter Cheryl said. “She still reads her paper every week.”
Clara’s spirit and legacy lives on through her very extended family: two daughters, five grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, 12 great- great- grandchildren, and one great-great-great granddaughter. Many of them were in attendance Friday, along with City Commissioner Angela Eady, who brought and read a city proclamation declaring Feb. 13 Clara Thomas Day.
“I’m very surprised and happy. Just happy,” Clara said. “I’m thankful for everyone who came.”
Church leaders like Pastor Remer Baker from Shiloh Baptist, who led a sing of Amazing Grace—which Clara joined right in on.
“Yes, amazing. You must have lived right, and walked with God,” Baker said.
Pastor Johnny M. McKinnie of St. Luke Baptist Church shared a message on behalf of his congregation: “The whole church loves Clara.”
That’s probably because Ms. Thomas has loved her community right back with what she accomplished in different, changing times.
She said her secret to such a long life really isn’t all that secret.
“Walk with God. Talk with God,” Clara said. “My life has been in church, through Him.”
