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ANNE MOREAU THOMAS<br />
A life-long resident of <strong>Hunterdon</strong> <strong>County</strong>, Anne Moreau<br />
was one of three daughters of Howard Moreau, owner and<br />
publisher of the <strong>Hunterdon</strong> <strong>County</strong> Democrat. Born in 1930,<br />
she grew up and attended school in Flemington. After<br />
graduating from Flemington High School in 1947, she went<br />
north to attend and graduate from Middlebury College in<br />
Vermont. It was there that she met her future husband<br />
H. Seely Thomas, and they married in 1952.<br />
After a stint as home economics teacher at North<br />
<strong>Hunterdon</strong> High School, she went on to teach adult education<br />
classes. With a background in newspaper writing and<br />
publishing and her great interest in food, it was natural that<br />
she should become Home and Food Editor for the Democrat,<br />
a post that she has filled since 1954.<br />
After the death of her father, Anne and Seely Thomas<br />
bought out her sisters and became the sole owners of the newspaper. Under their<br />
leadership the newspaper then expanded its readership and community influence,<br />
moved into larger quarters, modernized its equipment and became a prize-winning<br />
journal. During these building years, Anne Thomas served the <strong>New</strong> <strong>Jersey</strong> Press<br />
Association as trustee, president and chairman, a testimony by her peers to her abilities<br />
in the newspaper business.<br />
These busy years saw her as importantly as the mother of growing children and a<br />
devoted wife and homemaker. However, she also found the time and energy to<br />
contribute her talents to the community she loves so dearly. She has served as trustee<br />
to the Flemington Borough Library, <strong>Hunterdon</strong> <strong>County</strong> Historical Society, the <strong>Hunterdon</strong><br />
Heritage Conservancy, NJ Museum of Agriculture, and Board of Trustees of Rutgers<br />
University and as chairman of the Board of Governors of Rutgers. A deacon in her<br />
church, Mrs. Thomas also is a member of the Flemington <strong>Women</strong>'s Club, D.A.R., and<br />
the <strong>Hunterdon</strong>-Princeton Chapter of Chaine des Rotisseurs.<br />
In 1990, her dedication to community activities was recognized with the Golden<br />
Award from the <strong>Hunterdon</strong> <strong>County</strong> Chamber of Commerce. The Rolling Hills Girl Scout<br />
Council honored her with its <strong>Women</strong>'s Achievement Award and Soroptimist International<br />
with its International <strong>Women</strong> of Distinction Award.<br />
After a long illness, Seely Thomas died in 1994, ending a strong family partnership.<br />
Anne Moreau Thomas is now Corporate Board Chairman of the <strong>Hunterdon</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />
Democrat.<br />
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