CALAIS – He was known as a gentleman and a man of integrity, Kenneth “Smitty” Thomas, 77, died unexpectedly Saturday.

“He was a wonderful husband and a loving father,” his son Ken Thomas said Sunday.

At one time he owned the International Motel on Main Street He began as its manager in 1954 and purchased it in January 1955.

From 1954 until 1975, he also owned the former St. Croix Valley Drive-in Theater on Route 1.

“He was ahead of his time,” his son said. “The motel and drive-in theater are icons of America and my father was in the forefront of starting them right here in this community. He had the foresight to start them both and be involved in them both.”

Even though he had turned the motel over to his son, the elder Thomas worked at the motel until the day he died.

“He was a big part of the community,” Mayor Vinton Cassidy said of Thomas. “He was well liked … the guy was certainly a good person … and that’s one of the most important legacies we can leave behind,” he said.

The mayor reminisced about the drive-in that was eventually torn down and turned into warehouse space.

“When I go [past] there, I think about all the times we’d sit there and go to the movies and eat french fries as kids,” he said.

City Clerk Theresa Porter said she attended school with Thomas’s son. She described the senior Thomas as a hardworking man. “He was very well respected throughout the community,” she said.

Thomas was a long-time member of the Calais Rotary Club. Fellow Rotarian Dolph Lentz described him as a “great man. He was a good, kind man, a very nice man to know,” Lentz said.

Thomas was past president and a Paul Harris Fellow of the Calais Rotary Club. During his 37 years as a Rotarian, he had perfect attendance. He was famous for his annual Rotarian lobster feasts where people munched on lobster and fresh corn on the cob.

Washington County Community College President Bill Cassidy said that Thomas did many things for the community that most people were unaware of.

“He was just a silent contributor, a good steward of the community,” he said. “He always had a great smile and was a great role model for younger entrepreneurs in the community.”

Cassidy said Thomas was very supportive of the community college. “On more than one occasion, they’ve given cut rates when we’ve had a need for extra housing for students,” he said.

As a youngster, the college president said he recalled going to the drive-in first with his parents, then with his girlfriends and finally with his family.

“It was a family kind of environment. You never worried about going there. It was a communal kind of place and people would come from Princeton, Eastport, Calais and you would run into your friends and neighbors there,” he said. “That’s the kinds of memories I have of that and like all of his establishments it was well run, well organized and well managed just kind of a model business enterprise.”

Thomas is survived by his wife, Jennie, his son, Ken, and his daughter, Terri Coutu, along with several grandchildren.