Bernard Preston Thomas was born the sixth son and seventh child of Sam and Nellie Mumma Thomas on August 9, 1918. Two girls, born in 1920 and 1924, completed the family of nine children. Sam and Nellie were married in Nebraska and came by train to Sheridan in 1904. They spent their first night here at the Sheridan Inn. They homesteaded west of Sheridan on Dry Creek. After leaving the homestead, they leased places on the Home Ranch, Beaver Creek, and Cat Creek. It was at the Cat Creek School that someone other than family members first recognized Bernard's artistic talents.
The family moved into Sheridan in 1928 where Bernard spent hours watching Bill Gollings at work in his Sheridan Avenue studio. He was influenced by Gollings' work and became determined to develop his own natural talents and pursue a career in art. Bernard attended Coffeen Elementary School and Central School and graduated from Sheridan High School in 1937.
In high school he not only excelled in art but also in football. In 1936, he was on the All State First Team and a member of the Wyoming State Championship Team.
With the help of a scholarship from Whitney Benefits, Bernard graduated from Woodbury College in Los Angeles in 1941 with a degree in Commercial Art. He served as a sergeant in the 76th Infantry of the 3rd Army in the European Theater during World War II and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He continued to attract attention with his art, and his painting, "For Thou Art With Me", executed for the chaplain division earned him national recognition. But it was his sketchbook, depicting the people and the countryside of war-ravaged Europe which brought him to the attention of General George Patton. Patton made sure that Bernard was included in the group of U. S. soldiers sent to European schools to study after the war. Bernard studied at Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris under Jon Dupas where he developed his interest in portrait and mural painting.
Bernard returned to Sheridan in 1946 and was a partner in the Sheridan Sign Company located at the current site of Bear Brake on South Scott Street. It was during this time that Bernard painted the Mint Bar sign. In 1948, he married Betty McFall, a Chicago native who was teaching at Sheridan High School. The 1949 poster for the Bot Sots Stampede (now known as the Sheridan Wyo Rodeo) featured Bernard's painting of his older brother, Jess, roping a calf. There is a copy of that poster in King's Museum.
The mural painted for Sheridan's Bank of Commerce, now First Interstate Bank, was done in 1950. It incorporates the history of the valley at the base of the Big Horn Mountains from the Indians to mid-twentieth century and includes many Sheridan landmarks.
Betty and Bernard moved to Boynton Beach, FL, in 1953 when Bernard was commissioned by opera singer James Melton to paint the world's largest three-dimensional mural for the James Melton Autorama Museum of Automotive Antiquity. This building has since been torn down. A daughter, Sarah, was born in 1954 and a son, Lloyd, was born in 1956. Betty continued teaching in Florida and became an elementary school principal retiring in 1993 after a 47-year career. Bernard donated a painting to each of the eight public schools and the city library in Boynton Beach.
The family maintained Sheridan connections and spent some time here each summer. It was during one of these visits, in 1959, that Bernard painted the mural commissioned by Dan George depicting the J. H. Conrad trading post built in 1883 on the site of the Hospital Pharmacy. This mural was done on 2 ft. by 10 ft. pieces of tin nailed to 4 ft. by 10 ft. frames. Bernard touched up the eight panels twice after the original work was completed, the last time being in 1982 for Sheridan's 100th anniversary. The mural was taken down last week (Sept 2003) to be restored by Story artist, Dee Barnes. She will use technologically advanced paints and will coat the mural with UV varnish when finished for better preservation. Plans are for it to be put back in place next spring. Joe and Renee Meyers now own the building and the mural and are paying for the restoration.
Click here for a larger image of the building
Click this line for a larger picture of the mural
For the Yellowstone Bank in Laurel, MT, Bernard painted 100 years of history set along the Yellowstone River, and for the American National Bank in Rapid City, he painted an 80 foot historical mural. He also did other historical works for Yellowstone Branch Banks in Billings, Laurel, Absarokee and Columbus. They used reproductions of those paintings on their calendars for several years. Bernard was prolific in producing western Christmas cards for Lean in' Tree and added Florida scenes to the collection in 1970.
In 1965, Bernard completed the large historical documentary painting of the Battle of the Rosebud owned by the Neighbors family and currently hanging in the Sheridan Inn Saloon. He was a member of the National Association of Mural Painters and an exhibiting member of New York City's Grand Central Galleries showing a collection of his work in 1973. In the same year, Bernard was commissioned to paint the largest U. S. history mural in existence for Rapid City's new Dahl Fine Arts Center.
The door was never closed as Bernard spent 455 working days over a three year period on the 200 foot mural, thus allowing anyone who entered to see first-hand how the monumental mural was created day by day. The completed painting, dedicated on Aug. 30, 1975, was the only cyclorama depicting U.S. history and the only cyclorama west of the Mississippi River. All publishing rights for the mural have been given by the artist to the Rapid City Arts Council for future art scholarships and to maintain a computerized lighting system for the mural. Bernard's religious piece, "After the Last Supper", is considered one of his best and hangs in the Methodist Church in Boynton Beach. In the mid-1980's, after traveling to the Middle East for research, Bernard executed the 10 by 65 foot mural, "The Building of King Solomon's Temple", for the Masonic Temple in Lake Worth, FL. Bernard donated a portion of the profits from the sale of reproductions signed and numbered by the artist to State Masonic Homes.
In the summer of 1987, Bernard's four by six foot Wagon Box painting was dedicated at Sheridan's Fulmer Library's Wyoming Room. It was a gift to the Library from Milton Chilcott and the Sheridan Press. The same summer, in a letter to Chilcott, Bernard told the story of a chalkboard sketch, which survived intact for 40 years. "In August, 1947, my brother, Jess, and I rode our horses into the school yard of the Squirrel Creek country school located a few miles on the Montana side of the Montana-Wyoming border, reached by the Decker Road. Jess set some chairs up for a meeting the next day. Having nothing to do I took some colored chalk and, at the end of the blackboard, I sketched an Indian chief in a warbonnet, signed it, and dated it 1947. For 40 years the teachers at Squirrel Creek School never allowed an eraser (or a student) to touch the chalk sketch." Thomas was invited to the Squirrel Creek all-school reunion to add some more color to the faded chief. By this time, the blackboard had been moved to the basement of the school and was too heavy to be brought upstairs, so Bernard donated a painting of Chief Red Cloud to the Squirrel Creek School. The Squirrel Creek School, abandoned after Kirby and Decker formed a co-op, burned to the ground a few years later. The oil painting of Red Cloud is safe in Decker's new Spring Creek School.
According to Bernard, one of his most difficult mural commissions was for the Department of the Interior's Everglades National Park visitors' center. Here he had the difficult task of portraying the elements of nature that control the ecology of our nation's southernmost national park. This mural was damaged by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and later town down. Leaving behind a legacy of western art and documentary murals, Bernard passed away in 1994 in Boynton Beach. His wife, two children and three grandchildren, all living in Florida, survive him.
While much of his artwork is in private collections, in addition to paintings mentioned earlier, Bernard's work can be seen locally at many locations including First Federal Savings and Loan, Community First Bank, Yonkee Toner Law Offices, the Elks Lodge, Fort Phil Kearny, and Sheridan College. Bernard's Lewis and Clark series of thirteen large paintings, recently cleaned and repaired by Dee Barnes, is currently hung in his nephew's, Steve Adami's, accounting office in Buffalo. They are scheduled to be housed at the Gatchell Museum along with a replica of his Florida studio in the near future.
This is the text of a lecture presented by Judy Musgrave at the Big Horn Historical Society. She documented the life of Bernard Preston Thomas (SHS class of 1937), Sheridan native and world famous muralist, who passed away in 1994.
Following are additional comments about Bernard Thomas
from Malcolm Hutton '47:
I enjoyed the bio about Bernard Thomas and have a few memories of him myself. In the late 50’s he gave the Christmas program at Rotary. All the kids got a ticket and they drew for his pictures. Our oldest son, Gary, won a large Indian with headdress in charcoal of many colors. He still has it.
Bernard gave another program at Rotary telling about the battle of the Rosebud and how he had studied before doing the picture. Each part of the picture signifies a part of the battle. It was one of our most interesting programs.
Our youngest son, Chuck, has a mural, not included in the bio, at the Pony Sports Bar that was done for Jack Ferren’s Frontier Liquor Store at 142 South Main and signed 1951. It must have been painted on the wall because when Jack moved the liquor store to 3 South Gould, he said they just cut out the whole wall and moved it. It doesn’t have a formal name but it depicts “Frontier” Sheridan with a wagon train, miner, cowboys with beers, Indian, and Frontiersman. It is 15 feet long and 4 feet high. Mary Hutton (’48) called Bernard and he told her how to clean it.
Malcolm '47
from Christy Ann Smith Watenpaugh:
Wonderful article about Bernard Thomas. He taught in the old wooden parish house of St. Peters Episcopal church when I was in the 6th thru 8th grade, 1946,47 and 48. This was after my father,Rev. Donald Smith returned to St. Peters after serving as a chaplain in WWII.
Portraits were made of me and my grandfather in that class. I still have several of them. Wonderful memories. I was never able to track down some of the portraits done of me at that age. My mother and I both painted and drew in his class's. What a wonderful opportunity. I am still painting and some sculpture.
Christy Ann Smith Watenpaugh
