Montpelier Mary Sabina Koch Thomas died Monday, December 7, at her home in Heaton Woods, with her girls at her side. She was born to Cora (Kerschner) and Charles Henry Koch on May 14, 1921 in McKeansburg, PA, the youngest of 12 children, and grew up on the family farm in Pennsylvania Dutch country. Mary met her future husband, Willard Kellogg Thomas of Middlesex, VT, at a USO dance near her home. They married September 1, 1945 and made their home in Central Vermont where they raised their four daughters. Mary was an extraordinary homemaker and a natural mother. Her home was always open to friends and family for playing cards and board games. She had a passion for pinochle, which she was able to enjoy throughout her 94 years. She was famous for her full jar of fresh doughnuts, shoo-fly pie and festive meals around the kitchen table. For several years she worked at the snack bar at Norwich University, where was "mother" to all the boys that she did not have of her own. Mary leaves behind her four daughters and their husbands, Elaine Manghi-Buck and Skip Buck; Kathy and Pat O'Brien; Jane and Steve Carr; and Mary and Chris Stone; nine grandchildren; ten great grandchildren; two great-great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. She is predeceased by her 11 sisters and brothers, her husband Willard (1996), her infant daughter Beverly Jean, and her son-in-law Paul Manghi. The family appreciates her loving community at Heaton Woods, her home for 4½ years. The staff and residents truly became family to Mary and her daughters. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her memory to the Heaton Woods Activity Fund, 10 Heaton Street, Montpelier, VT 05602. There will be no calling hours. A funeral service will be held on Saturday, Dec. 12th at 10:00 am at the Guare & Sons Funeral Home, 30 School Street, Montpelier. A committal service will be held in the spring at the Plainmont Cemetery