In the same year that the city of Tucumcari celebrated its centennial birthday, a Quay County resident will celebrate his 100th birthday.

Horace Thomas of Tucumcari will hit the century mark today. He was lived in Quay County for all of his life.

Thomas’ parents, Virgil and Edna Thomas, homesteaded four miles north of Forrest in 1908, according to June Greenfield, Thomas’ daughter.

Greenfield said her grandmother was pregnant with her father when they arrived in Quay County.

Since there were no doctors in the area, her grandparents returned to Oklahoma for her father’s birth.

“My grandparents returned to Forrest with my dad soon after his birth,” Greenfield said.

Greenfield said her father married her mother Linie and bought land a quarter mile from his parents’ place, where he raised wheat and cattle.

“I was raised on that farm as well as my older brother Norman Thomas and younger sister Sheryl Faith,” Greenfield said. “It was a great life, being raised on a farm. I enjoyed attending the small school in Forrest.”

Horace Thomas lived at his ranch in Forrest until 1960 when the school in Forrest closed. He moved the family to Tucumcari so his youngest daughter could complete school.

“There was a big difference moving into the city,” Sheryl Faith said. “He worked harder on the farm and it seemed that he was able to relax more in town.

“It was nice for dad to be able to go to the coffee shop and have a cup of coffee with the guys.”

While he lived in Tucumcari, Horace Thomas worked at a granary and the electric company until he retired, Faith said.

Faith and Greenfield said their father loved to fish and would spend time at a cabin he owned in northern New Mexico.

“Daddy loved to go fishing for trout,” Greenfield said. “He was very kind and he never spoke ill of anyone.”

Thomas has been living in the Quail Ridge assisted living home.  His family felt that he would not be able to respond to questions.