UNION: Services for Ms. Kate Freeman Thomas, age 89, of Union will be held 12 noon, Friday, July 17, 2026, at Milling Funeral Home Chapel with burial in the Union City Cemetery. Dr. Jon Martin and Bro. Michael Wilbanks will officiate.

Visitation will be held 10:30 am - 12 noon, Friday at Milling Funeral Home of Union.

Sadness and joy are but two faces of the same coin…and the family of Kate Freeman Thomas saw both of those faces on Sunday, July 12, 2026 when the heavenly spirit of Kate departed her failing body to join her God, her one and only soul mate James, her parents and her sisters in Heaven.

Annie Kate Freeman was born the fourth in a family of six girls to Auston and Alma Bright Freeman on November 22, 1936 in Newton County, Mississippi. Her years at Sebastopol High School only got better when the new kids from Dixie School arrived and she spotted and claimed her future husband, James Thomas, on his very first day as a Bobcat. True to her word, she married that man after she finished her business degree at East Central and got her first job in Jackson at Office Supply Company. It was during that brief period of work before her marriage that she worked and lived with Jimmie Ruth Johnson and Joyce Barrier. When Jimmie Ruth married Jerry Addy and Joyce married Bobby Hardy, the three couples developed lifelong friendships.

After James completed his service in the Air Force, he and Kate took a gamble in the 1960’s in the School Pictures business. They worked hard and it paid off, following the industry from Jackson, MS, to Birmingham, AL and Lima, OH, while raising their young sons, Jim and Steve. The picture business profited and allowed them to move back to Mississippi in 1974 to build their dream home and raise cattle. Never ones to waste time idly talking about things, they immediately launched their energy into their new life…becoming leaders in First Baptist Church of Union, making friends, supporting the Union School system, establishing a herd of Black Angus cattle on the farm and building a home that was a marvel to all with its full basement and cutting edge appliances. Unfortunately, their dreams were cut short when James was killed in a farming accident just two short years later.

Thereafter, Kate threw her energy into a multitude of activities…always working at a frantic pace. She purchased the local Sears Catalogue Agency and operated it for several years together with a garden supply store, next to the Piggly Wiggly. Later, she became the executive director of the Union Chamber of Commerce and successfully aided in recruiting several key manufacturing concerns to the town, leading the Town to name a street in the Industrial Park as Kate Thomas Drive…an honor few living persons are able to claim. She served two terms as Justice Court Judge for Newton County and ended up her working career as a dispatcher for the Union Police Department for many years.

In addition to the careers she undertook as a livelihood, Kate found ways to bring her extended family together, most notably in her purchase of Cabin 301 at the Neshoba County Fair (affectionately known as Kate’s Kathouse). She found the Cabin was too small to stack in all of her children, grandchildren, sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, spouses, and their descendants and friends. She kept adding on and finding a way to put in just one more sleeping spot. Kate enjoyed assigning those beds, patrolling the grounds (as it was probably the only Cabin where Prohibition had not been repealed) and planning the menus for the week. Anyone who was ever fortunate enough to spend the night in that pitch-black, ice-cold second story bunkroom will never forget it. Kate kept the Fair schedule in hand and made an appearance at all of the important events, considering it a good day when she made the Fair Times newspaper, which she read from cover to cover.

Kate also always found time to volunteer for her community, as a leader in the Union Present Day Club, in the Boler’s Inn Preservation Society and at FBC, until her health failed her. She was never shy when approaching people for their support in a fundraiser. It would be impossible to calculate the number of showers she co-hosted for brides and new mothers. It was for all of her tireless devotion to the betterment of Union, Mississippi that she was named Citizen of the Year after her retirement.

In addition to her parents, Auston and Alma Freeman, and husband, James Thomas, Kate was preceded in death by her sisters and brothers-in-law, Mae and Myron Sistrunk, Austine and Fred Cliburn, DeLois and Grady Killen, and Bobbie Bearden.

Kate is survived by her son Jim Thomas and granddaughters, Megan Thomas (John Parks) and Emma Grace Thomas; her son Steve Thomas and granddaughters, Mary Kate Thomas Miller (Luke), Abby Thomas, and Hannah Thomas Stegall (Ben); her sister, Janis Watts; and a multitude of loving nieces, nephews, extended family members and dear friends.

The family thanks all of those friends who visited Kate after her health failed, especially Norma Jean Lowe and Bitsy Carleton, who continued to show up for her throughout her illness. Jim and Steve know that they can never thank “Aunt Janis” enough for her tireless devotion to attending to Kate’s needs, which she considered a labor of love.

Pallbearers: Rick Addy, Matt Lott, Britt Gibbs, Mike Hardy, Jim Ogletree and Billy Pat Walker