Louisiana House District 68 - Matt Thomas

Matt Thomas - Candidate for House District 68

www.parrymattthomasforhouse68.com

A grandson of a Scottish immigrant cattle rancher and a grandson of Welsh immigrants, and a son of a decorated WWII B-26 bomber pilot, service is in Parry Matt Thomas’ blood.

Matt’s father, Lt. Col. Parry Lloyd Thomas, Ret., gave up a basketball scholarship at Duquesne University to enlist just prior to December 7, 1941. Parry wanted to fly and he fought over the front lines in both Europe and Japan as both a B-26 and A-26 pilot. He trained in Baton Rouge’s Harding Field on the A-26 after flying 40 missions in Europe.

Over Japan, leading the 319th Bomb Group for his last wartime mission, he and his crew witnessed the atomic cloud over Hiroshima after bombing Nagasaki harbor. After the war Parry returned to the US base in Boca Raton where he married Pearl Ann Leggat. Mercury 7 astronaut Donald “Deke” Slaton was an usher in the wedding celebration.

Parry returned to Japan as part of the post war occupation where his wife soon joined him. Parry Matthew Thomas, Parry and Pearl’s first son was born on August 12, 1948. They nicknamed him, Matt, after his Scottish grandfather, Mathew.

Upon returning to the US, the family moved 7 times until Parry retired from the service in 1967. Matt stayed behind when his family, for the second time in his senior year, moved. Matt graduated with high honors in both academics and athletics from Mt. Clemens High on the north side of Detroit.

In 1966 through 1973, Matt attended the University of Florida. He joined Delta Tau Delta Fraternity and worked his way through his final years to graduate on the dean’s list in August 1973 from the College of Journalism and Communications in Public Relations.

Having inherited an impressive work ethic, Matt was hired and quickly promoted twice in 1 ½ years with Green Thumb Products in LaPorte, Indiana where managed the packaging and delivery of potting soil to two thirds of the US,

In Dec 1974, he returned to Florida and became a pump and motor sales engineer for National Electric Coil, a division of Mc Graw Edison Corp.

Striving to expand his career capabilities, he returned to UF for an MBA and earned a research assistantship to the marketing department after scoring in the top one percent on the GMAT.

Graduating with his Masters, Matt chose to start his new career in Atlanta where he joined Byron Jackson Pump Division Borg Warner Corp. Hired in the Electric Power Sales group, he was promoted and transferred to Texas, Alabama and Louisiana.

His first sale was to Central and Southwest Services of a 25,000 BHP main boiler feed pump for the Oklaunion 733 megawatt power station.

Next his success led him to Alabama and Louisiana where he became the Senior Nuclear sales specialist for the southern US and eventually “Top Bannana” in the worldwide nuclear sales team.

After 9/11, Matt chose to retire at the age of 52 and dedicate his life to community service. He moved to Baton Rouge, where he bought a house on Cedardale Ave.

Today Matt lives with his second wife who is from mainland China, Baozhen Huang. His daughters are literally spread across the world in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province; Hong Kong and Tyler, Texas.

Tyler, the home of the Tyler Rose, is where Megan and Bryan Matus are raising his three grandchildren, Nola, Mac and Roux while owning and managing two Louisiana based Franchises for Rotolo’s.

Matt is widely known across the world as a tireless, and dedicated community volunteer who has chosen Baton Rouge and the LSU community for his garden. As Candide said, “We must tend our garden.”

@parrymatt #lalege #lagov @thepelicanbrief225