Our Co-Founders
Bert Thomas
Bert co-founded the Conservancy with his cousin Bill Thomas and served as board Chair from 2008 until he stepped down in 2014. He grew up in Fort Thomas on Barrett Drive, attended Johnson Elementary school and graduated from Highlands High School. His later education included Virginia Tech, where he received a BA and MA, and the University of Kentucky where over 4 years he became a doctoral candidate in the history program. Bert also spent four years in the U.S. Air Force as a Chinese language intelligence specialist, after attending an intensive Chinese Mandarin course at Yale University’s Institute of Far Eastern Languages, and then served in Korea. He was an intelligence officer by profession for the Federal government based in Washington, D.C., with assignments and travel in various overseas locations and a year at the Naval War College. Following retirement, he was Director of Washington Operations for private companies specializing in overseas communications and operations.
Bert’s interest in land conservation derived from his childhood time hiking and exploring in the woods around his home. After his time with the Fort Thomas Forest Conservancy, he and his wife Diane moved to northern Michigan. He is mostly retired. They have three grown children. Bert is currently serving as board president for Saving Birds Thru Habitat, a conservation organization on the Leelanau Peninsula, and is a docent with the Leelanau Conservancy.
Bill Thomas
Bill Thomas is one of the co-founders of the Fort Thomas Forest Conservancy in 2009. Bill was a life long resident of Fort Thomas, an avid history buff, a writer, a lover of trees, gardens and nature. Fort Thomas meant a great deal to him. Bill drew and developed the Landmark Tree Trail in Tower Park as well as started the Fort Thomas Garden Tour. He served as the vice president of City of Fort Thomas Tree Commission, was a member of the Fort Thomas Garden Club, and a member of City Council for many years. In his later years, Bill started a community newspaper about Fort Thomas, Inside Fort Thomas. This was Bill's pride and joy, as he was able to write about historical, comical, and informational happenings around Fort Thomas. His stories, interviews and articles covered a variety of topics, but they all centered around the town he loved. Writing came very natural to Bill, and he wrote three books: Fort Thomas, a pictorial history of Fort Thomas that fourth graders in Fort Thomas use to this day; Fort Thomas Highlands Football, a pictorial history of Highlands Football; and Fort Thomas Then and Now, a pictorial history of landmark sites in Fort Thomas as they originally were and what they are now. Bill certainly left his mark on this town. Bill and his wife, Sidney, enjoyed sharing their home, which was built by Harlan Hubbard for his mother in 1923. Sidney continues to share the home and Harlan Hubbard’s studio with the public during certain open hours. Bill had always hoped Harlan’s legacy would continue in this manner.
Bill has three children, Jennifer, Katie and David, and five grandchildren: Kaylee, Collier, and Mac Mills, Claire Alcala and Rosie Thomas all whom miss him dearly and love to visit his Landmark Tree Trail often.
