Obituary: Moreen Thomas had ‘immense influence’ on her talented sons Dave and Ian

Moreen Thomas was the biggest fan of her talented sons Dave and Ian, and she was also their biggest inspiration.

The Thomas brothers credit their mother - who died May 18 at age 94 in Burlington - with the success they achieved in the entertainment industry.

They remember car rides singing with their mother and father - former minister and McMaster University philosophy professor John Thomas - and being schooled in the couple's love of such comics as The Goons," the British troupe featuring Peter Sellers. Their mother had played the harp and piano since she was a child in Scotland, and later was a piano teacher in Dundas and the longtime music director at a Burlington church. She would shoot either son a look if they went flat during the car ride singalong.

I would say it was a pretty immense influence," said Juno winning singer-songwriter Ian, 71, now a member of Lunch at Allen's, a band that includes Murray McLaughlin.

No matter how poor we were, we always had a piano. Mom made sure there was always music in the house. The house was really alive. It was my mother who drummed into our heads that we could do anything we wanted to. We attempted things we should never have attempted. There was never any fear of failure."

Dave Thomas, 73, an Emmy and Juno winner probably best known as one half of Bob and Doug McKenzie on SCTV," remembered his mother giving him some advice when he was given the task of cleaning out the garage at their Dundas home when he was 17. He complained it would take him forever" and she told him to break the job down into smaller ones.

She set the example of hard work," said Thomas, who recently sold a TV pilot to the CBC and BBC about a Canadian family who get transported to Britain and get involved in the crime world.

She showed me how to compartmentalize a big job into smaller parts. I never forgot that and I used that in university and later in screenwriting. It's an overwhelming task until you start to compartmentalize.

She was a pretty focused and intense gal. She believed she could do anything you want."

Thomas was born May 4, 1928, in Glasgow to William and Jean Muir. Her father had a medical herb shop and also sold herbs through mail order. Her mother was a homemaker.

Thomas worked in her father's shop and met her husband at a meeting where he was the guest minister and she played the piano. The couple moved to Canada in 1947 and her husband served as pastor of the Westover and Mountsberg Baptist churches in Flamborough. They moved to Toronto in 1953, when Rev. Thomas got a new church. They and their sons then moved to Durham, North Carolina, in 1957 when Rev. Thomas became a philosophy student at Duke University. She worked as a secretary and assistant to noted parapsychologist Dr. Karl Zener.

The family returned to Canada in 1960 when Rev. Thomas went to work in the Department of Philosophy at McMaster University. She got a job in the McMaster library and the family settled in Dundas. The couple moved to Burlington in 1996.

Thomas got her Associate Diploma at the Royal Conservatory of Music in 1970 and became an organist at several Hamilton churches. She served as organist and music director for 17 years at Burlington Baptist Church, and played her harp with a cellist and a flutist in a trio called the Mobelise Ensemble. She wrote some arrangements that got published.

Thomas put together photo albums of news clippings on her two famous sons. She was always proud and encouraging," said Dave.

Numerous social media posts fondly recall Thomas' impact as a piano teacher and church leader. The brothers have been comforted by the outpouring of condolences. Ian posted a little thing" on Facebook and was gobsmacked" at the reaction, including hearing from people he hadn't seen in decades.

She made the most of her life and other people's lives too," said Dave.

Thomas is also survived by six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her husband John, who died in 1996.

Daniel Nolan can be reached at dannolanwrites@gmail.com