Mary Beth Thomas

Dr. Mary Beth Thomas, 85, a member of the Park Springs Community in Stone Mountain, GA, died on April 5, 2026. The daughter of Beth and Bill Thomas, she was born in Sewanee, TN, on March 2, 1941, and grew up in Athens, TN.

Early on, Mary Beth developed four traits that shaped her life and account for much of its richness: vigorous intellectual learning, instinctive leadership skills, a passion for the natural world, and a gift for sustaining life-long friendships. At Ingleside Grammar School in Athens, she excelled academically and began a long engagement in the Girl Scouts, moving over a span of 20 years from Brownie Scout to summer camper to assistant camp director. Along the way, she collected life-long friends and a menagerie of critters: in addition to superb dogs that shared her life -- memorable shelties and Laddie, the collie mix who came first – were a blue crayfish, guppies, turtles, orphaned squirrels, hermit crabs, and one smelly freshwater mussel.

In 1959, Mary Beth graduated with distinction from Tennessee’s McMinn County High School. Class salutatorian and member of the National Honors Society, she developed through service her gift for leadership. Voted Most Dependable by her classmates, she attended Girls State and received the DAR Good Citizens Award. She also won awards at Tennessee regional science fairs while staying close to her Scouting friends from grammar school days.

Her four-year experience at Agnes Scott College strengthened her enduring traits: she added more lasting friendships, became Student Government President and a member of Mortar Board, and in 1963 graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in biology. Her senior research was on protista, creatures prosaically known as “slime molds.” Her enthusiasm for the project had ramifications: For years afterwards, her acquaintances impulsively turned over wet logs in quest of these lovely bright and tiny organisms with the unfortunate name. Those years at Agnes Scott College had a profound impact on Mary Beth. As an alumna, she continued to love and contribute to the work of her college, and she was selected as the 2014 Outstanding Alumna for Service to the College.

In 1971, Mary Beth earned her Ph.D. in biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Along the way she made more friends, including Nancy Edwards, her friend, colleague, and housemate for decades. Following work on several post-graduate research projects, she discovered the fulfillment of teaching. She first taught at Wake Forest University and then, for over 20 years as Full Professor of Biology, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Never losing her energy and enthusiasm for science and service, Mary Beth sat on countless committees, published widely, and took particular interest in shaping undergraduate biologists by sponsoring student groups and organizing summer research courses – especially on the Atlantic coast and in Bermuda.

Her retirement years at Park Springs were no less energetic. She built strong friendships there and put her science knowledge and research skills to work making sure her community was aware of the global threat of nanoplastics, the importance of nurturing native plants, and the pressing need to recycle. She never stopped teaching. She studied environmental threats to butterflies and engaged her friends to nurture the Monarch population. Earth Day did not escape the attention of any Park Springs resident, partially because of Mary Beth’s penchant for creating posters, lots of posters! Her poster-production skills became central last May when she helped organize the every-other-Saturday political protests along nearby West Park Place Blvd. The current poster assortment is expansive, and anyone can pick from among the colorful and witty collection of posters and join the protest on Saturdays. The impact of Mary Beth’s enthusiastic engagement in life and in the lives of her friends will be lasting.

Mary Beth is survived by her sister, Susan Thomas, and numerous cousins and friends. A memorial service will be scheduled later in the spring. Any memorial gifts should go the Agnes Scott College (https://give.agnesscott.edu), the Park Springs Foundation (https://parkspringsfoundation.org), or a charity of choice.