Governor's Award presented to St. Thomas More parishioner for outstanding service

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Susan Thomas, a St. Thomas More parishioner, received the Governor?s Award of Excellence for Outstanding Public Service.

SALT LAKE CITY — Using her gifts to bless others has always been important to Susan Thomas, a St. Thomas More parishioner. Those efforts were recently recognized in her professional life by Governor Gary Herbert, who awarded Thomas the Governor’s Award of Excellence for Outstanding Public Service.

Thomas, who has had an extensive career in journalism and public relations, has worked for the Utah Schools for the Deaf and for the Blind for almost three years as communications director.

“This position was such a great opportunity and I love it,” she said. “Superintendent Joel Coleman has done such a good job of building a team. The people who want to help students who are deaf or hard of hearing, blind or visually-impaired or deaf-blind, those are golden-hearted people. It has just been a magical experience.”

Thomas was nominated by Coleman for the award, which she received Oct. 28 in a virtual Zoom event.

“Because of her dedicated professionalism, the education of Utah’s children who are deaf or blind has been enhanced, and the relationship between their families and the schools has improved in meaningful ways,” Coleman wrote in his nomination. “Since coming on board a couple of years ago at USDB, Susan has been a transformational leader. As a member of the superintendent’s cabinet, she touches everything in the organization, and her performance has been exemplary.”

Thomas has been attending St. Thomas More Catholic Church since 1992, when she first came to Utah. Although she was an Episcopalian, she discovered the parish while searching for a church to attend, and felt welcome there.

When Thomas was getting her older son John Luke ready for kindergarten, she was dismayed to learn that the local public elementary school had an extremely high student-to-teacher ratio. She began looking at other options and was impressed by what Blessed Sacrament School had to offer. She approached the principal to see if she could enroll her son there.

“The principal said, ‘This is a Catholic school, so your child will learn all about the Catholic Church and attend Mass once a week,’ and I said, ‘That will be awesome; I love that,’” Thomas recalled.

Although she had remained Episcopalian while continuing to attend services at St. Thomas More, things changed for Thomas when her son was in second grade. John Luke came home one day and asked her to sign a paper that would allow him to participate more fully in Church activities and begin the process to becoming a Catholic.

And I just thought, ‘Oh my gosh, my kids want to be Catholic,’ and I just thought, ‘You know what, I’m going to be Catholic too; I’ve been almost-Catholic for so many years,’” she said.

Thomas went through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and was confirmed in 2007. She and her sons have remained active in the parish; she recently was asked to put together a welcome packet for people new to the parish. She has enjoyed the process, and encourages all Catholics to get involved in their parish communities.

 “I would recommend people look at their parish and see what kind of help they need and be more proactive,” she said. “Instead of waiting for someone to ask you to help with something, look at all the projects going on and see if you might have some talents that could be helpful, and offer to help. I wish I would have started volunteering sooner; I love it so much.”