Originally published in the Voice of the Valley, March 9, 1983
By Eulalia Tollefson
Ask Ev (Evan) Thomas where he was born, educated, married, worked, and lived 90 years and he gives one answer: Black Diamond.
Thomas was born in Black Diamond, March 4, 1893, to parents who had moved to the area from Nortonville, California, to work in the coal mines. He was the youngest, and only one still living, of 13 children.
A tragic mine accident snuffed out the life of his father, Evan Sr., in 1895. Thomas’ enterprising mother, Elizabeth, ran a boarding house to support the family. But it was necessary for the fatherless youngsters to help out with jobs of their own. And work they did.
“I began working when I was about 10 years old,” recalled Thomas. “I worked in the meat market, the grocery store, did anything for a job.”
But it wasn’t all work and no play. There was time for all the important, aimless pursuits of youth.
“And we had parties,” he grinned. “There were quite a few clubs and lodges in those days. There must have been—oh—eight or ten lodges in Black Diamond then.”
On Sept. 2, 1916, Thomas married his childhood sweetheart, Florence Harries. He then proceeded to embark on a work course that would tax the stamina of the average man and span more years than most are privileged to survive.
He worked in Seattle in a tire and battery shop from 1928 to 1932. “I made good money, 37 cents an hour,” he laughed.
But Thomas disliked Seattle and devoted his life to working in the Black Diamond area to provide for his wife and only child, Lois (now Mrs. Frank Zumek, also of Black Diamond).
He was employed as machinist and electrician for the Pacific Coast Coal Company at mines 11, 12, and 13. He worked as a mechanic in the Diamond Garage and bought into it in 1929.
He then built what [illegible] began a bus line between Black Diamond and Seattle and established a freight company, the Diamond Stage Company.
“We hauled freight to Maple Valley, Hobart, Selleck, Kent, and Renton,” he said.
He says of his early occupation and business days, “I made a living in Black Diamond, but sometimes it was pretty tough.”
Thomas cared about his community. His civic endeavors included organizing the first Black Diamond fire department. He was its first commissioner.
In the early ‘40s the Thomases bought a home for $350 and moved it to its present location, just two blocks from where he was born. Remodeling turned it into the inviting, comfortable, and attractive home in which they still reside.
Thomas remained in Black Diamond because “I enjoy it. It’s a good place to live, better than any place I know of.”
He is happy with the changes in the area.
“There is hardly anything left of the old town. It used to be all shacks,” he reminisced.
Unlike most who attain his age, Thomas does not attribute his longevity to a dedicated personal regime of self-care.
“I never had time to take care of myself,” he declared, eyes twinkling. “I lived a long time because I always had work to do. Kids don’t try to work these days. I worked until I was 80.”
Many Black Diamond residents are fond of Ev Thomas and appreciate his contribution to their community: so much so that Thursday they showered him with birthday cards and presented him with a plant and a specially decorated cake. It was their way of saying, “Thank you, Ev Thomas!”
Black Diamond History 
I am just 92 and went from Virginia Mason in Seattle to Black Diamond a few days later. My first paid job was working for Ev at the Black Diamond garage as a teen ager. Pumping gas, servicing cars, retrieving stalled Bus, etc.
Bob Beers
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