TRIBUTES have been paid to a bishop who died suddenly after returning from a holiday to celebrate his golden wedding anniversary.

Bishop David Thomas, 74, who passed away on Thursday, May 11, was vicar of Chepstow for three years from 1979 to 1982, and followed his father, who also became a bishop, into the ministry.

Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, John Davies, said: “The sudden death of Bishop David Thomas, almost immediately after he and his wife Rosemary returned from a holiday celebrating their golden wedding anniversary, comes as a terrible shock to the many in the Church in Wales and beyond, who both respected and loved him.

“At heart David was a parish priest with great love and care for the people committed to his care and oversight.”

He added: “As a family, we were touched when he readily agreed to deliver the address to what was expected to be and proved to be a modest congregation at the simple funeral service of my late mother-in-law whom he had prepared for confirmation during his time at Chepstow.

“He died so suddenly and unexpectedly at 6pm soon after returning home and, Rosemary told me, after a cup of tea… reflecting on the time of day, I expressed some mild surprise that it had not been a gin and tonic which, unlike his pipe, he had not foresworn. That, said Rosemary, was to follow. Sadly it was not to be so.”

Bishop Thomas, who retired to Swansea in 2008, also served as a canon of Brecon Cathedral from 1994-96 and was consecrated a bishop in 1996, with a role across the Church in Wales as provincial assistant bishop to the diocesan bishops.