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Thomas' Children Will Cling to Memories
Feb. 15, 2000
Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas barely knew his father, Robert, who perished while flying a 1972 mission in Vietnam when Derrick was 5.
Now, Thomas' seven children will have faint memories of their famous father, who died Feb. 8 of a pulmonary embolism 16 days after he was paralyzed from the chest down in a single-car accident in Kansas City.
Thomas' children were listed in the program of Tuesday's memorial service at Kemper Arena.
They are Burgandie and Derrick Jr. of Miami; Derrion, Derrius and Robert of Kansas City; Micayla of Kearney; and Alexa of Lawrence. No ages were listed.
Alexa, 31/2, and Micayla, 18 months, squirmed in their mothers' arms during the service, which was followed by a gathering of friends, family and Chiefs personnel at the Arrowhead Club.
"I think she'll have some memories," Alexa's mother, Kelly Harmon, said at the Arrowhead Club. "We went to most of his football games. She wanted to go (outside) now. She wasn't sure she was at the stadium because she had to see the field."
Thomas doted on his daughter, Harmon said.
"He loved her," she said. "He would always say, `Hey, Pretty.' That's what he would call her.
"He came to her birthday parties and always bought half the toy store for her at Christmas. He would call and leave messages on the answering machine and wanted to know how his little girl was doing.
"She'll have few memories, but there will be enough people surrounding her that she'll be able to remember him and have lots of stories."
Unfortunately, Micayla is so young she won't have memories of her dad.
"Only through pictures and videos, really," said Micayla's mother, Dee Dee Pierce.
Pierce, knowing the affection Thomas had for his father, has contacted a friend of Robert Thomas', who is to send some pictures and historical information about the family.
"The positive thing out of it all is she's going to know all these good things about him.
Everybody loves her daddy. That makes it nice.
"I'll tell her he had a big heart but couldn't spread it out as far as he wanted it to go. He didn't get everything done that he wanted to."
Pierce said Thomas didn't spend a lot of time with Micayla "because we had to share Daddy with all the other kids in Kansas City."
The Thomas half-brothers and sisters in Kansas City got together for birthdays and occasional weekends, but Pierce said: "Now they're really pulling together at their time of need. That's the good part."
As far as a plan for taking care of the children financially, Pierce said it will be some time before everything is settled.
"It's a big estate," she said.
Two speakers at the service, Carol Coe and Kevin Regan, made references to the children.
"The children are blessed," said Coe, a family friend and former Kansas City councilwoman. "They, too, will soar."
from kc star
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