Personal life

Thomas attended Western Kentucky University where he met and married Joan McBroom. He received a B.A. from WKU in 1957. Together, they were the parents of David Thomas (1956), Dianne Thomas (1958), and Lisa Thomas (1963). He and Joan divorced in 1965 and Thomas married Phyllis Moore in 1966. He and Phyllis were the parents of Thomas' son Alan Lowell Thomas (1966).

Professional life

Thomas reported for the Park City Daily News, during the WKU years. Upon graduation, he accepted a commission in the US Army, serving 1957-59 at Ft. Holobird, Maryland. After separation, Thomas was employed by United Press International in Louisville, Kentucky, until going to work for the Cincinnati Enquirer in 1962. He was promoted to Travel Editor at the Enquirer.

Thomas left the Enquirer in 1966, to freelance for a number of newspapers and magazines. His work focused in the areas of outdoors, travel, and human interest, and was published in Field & Stream, Woodall's Trailer Travel, Outdoor Life, The Saturday Evening Post, and many other periodicals. In 1976, Thomas received the National Geographic Award for Photography. Thomas published his first book in 1974.