It was Penny Marganski’s last day at Scissors, a hair salon near near Main Street she owned for eight years before deciding to close up shop in June 2011.
At one point during the day, George Thomas sauntered by, carrying a small bottle of Dubra vodka, his drink of choice. Marganski told him it was her last day in business.
“He put his bottle of Dubra down, walked up to Big Y and brought me back an ice cream cake,” Marganski said. “He was a character.”
Thomas, who died Monday, was an unofficial ambassador for Ansonia’s Main Street.
Also known simply as “The General,” Thomas, 59, could be found downtown on any given day — hot or cold, rain or shine — engaging in colorful conversations with merchants and passersby on any number of topics.
Never too far away from a shopping cart filled with assorted odds and ends, he was an Ansonia institution.
He’d offer embellished bits and pieces of his personal history — like saying he jumped out of a hospital window within moments of his birth.
He’d make occasional social critiques, too. How come people didn’t say hello to each other while walking down the street anymore?
He was so ubiquitous he was the very first person to cross the newly built Maple Street bridge in December 2011.
His body was found Monday morning in the parking lot of Ralph Mann and Sons on Main Street by an employee of the business, according to Ansonia Police Lt. Andrew Cota.
An autopsy will be performed at the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner in Farmington, but Cota said Thomas’ death does not seem suspicious.
“It appears as if he was sleeping in the lot and simply didn’t wake up,” he said.
Cota said that though Thomas could be an occasional handful — a check of his police record reveals lots of misdemeanor charges, mostly involving trespassing — he was a “good guy.”
“Everyone seemed to know George,” Cota said. “He was always good for a long conversation and a laugh when he got your ear.”
[View the story “RIP George Thomas” on Storify]A measure of how well-known Thomas was — Mayor James Della Volpe was driving down Main Street Monday morning and pulled over when he saw a Valley Indy reporter on the sidewalk.
Did he have a complaint about a story, or want to clarify something he had said earlier?
Nope.
“Did you hear George Thomas died?” he said.
Della Volpe knew Thomas since childhood — the two are roughly the same age. “He was a smart kid,” the mayor said.
Their families went back in time even further, he said.
“His father used to be a mason, and used to do work with my family, and we used to pay them with chickens and eggs when he would do masonry work for us, that’s how far back our families went,” Della Volpe said.
The mayor spent time with members of the family Monday morning after hearing of Thomas’ death.
Thomas worked at the Farrel Corporation for many years before falling on hard times, the mayor said.
But despite life dealing him a tough hand, Della Volpe recalled Thomas always dancing and maintaing his trademark friendliness and happy-go-lucky attitude.
His outfits were often eye-catching, as well.
“One day he’d have a cap and gown on and the next day he’d have bandleader’s attire on,” the mayor said. “We’re going to miss George.”
Thomas said he was homeless. He didn’t or couldn’t do much to hide his obvious mental health and alcohol problems.
But, once you started talking to him, you couldn’t help but taking a liking to him.
Marganski said that Thomas would talk openly acknowledge his drinking and mental health issues.
He said he didn’t want to be medicated because he feared walking Main Street like a “zombie.”
Business owners on Main Street reacted to the news of Thomas’ passing like they had lost a member of the family.
In some ways, they had.
Mark James, the owner of Ansonia Yankee Peddler, remarked how quiet it was Monday morning in front of his store on Main Street without Thomas’ presence.
“He’ll definitely be missed,” James said. “Main Street will definitely miss George Thomas, you can believe it.”
Thomas always wanted to chat, James said, and had a big heart.
“You what what George did a lot of? George would buy things and give them away,” James said. “George was something.”
Bev Tidmarsh, who works at Bennett and Walsh law offices on Main Street, recalled Thomas as a “good guy with a good heart.”
“He’d do anything for you,” she said.
“He was a staple downtown,” said Michael Carpinello, owner of the Super Softy ice cream truck.
Gregg Seccombe, of Seccombe’s Men’s Shop, said Thomas was “an icon” he had known since childhood.
“I’ve literally known him since I was 5 years old,” Seccombe said.
Thomas would offer to help out with chores like shoveling or other work, Seccombe said, and though he could be a bit loud now and then, never posed a threat.
Seccombe said that on occasions when Thomas would come into money, he’d ask Seccombe to put it in the shop’s safe, then give him a few bucks every day.
“He was one of those guys that I just cared about,” he said. “He was a pain in the neck, but he was our pain in the neck.”