Laurinburg to the Stars: Angela Hope Settles Thomas

Mar 19

*Angela Hope Settles Thomas and Her Niece*

92 miles southeast of Charlotte, North Carolina, is a small town of 15,000 residents called Laurinburg. Among those 15,000 was a community of dreamers, both young and old, from all walks of life. Amid this small country town was an earthside angel, Angela Hope Settles Thomas.

Facing adversity, building tradition, and living to spread her light are the foundations of Thomas’s story. Some may say that from the outside looking in, her life was picture-perfect, a fantasy fit only for the big screen. Growing up in a two-parent household, she was the youngest of four siblings and had the double duties of being a high school cheerleader and senior class president. Going on to leave the rural town behind to attend a university in the city, only to end up marrying the football star from the neighboring town, a tale only Netflix could tell.

However, this is not how Thomas would tell her story. What is true is that she endured many hardships and overcame many obstacles. Including being hospitalized for two weeks due to Ulcerative Colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, during her senior year of high school. Thomas attributes her family to much of her success, and her identity. She says that growing up with both of her parents and witnessing their work ethic, as well as them providing stability and sharing the church as a home base, gave her the tools she needed to go far. It was her family who got her through some of her darkest hours and hardest times. Thomas shared how the sudden end to her love story presented her greatest trial.

“Becoming a widow was the hardest thing I think that I’ve dealt with in life,” Thomas said. “ I lost my father which was very hard but losing my husband, my children's father was the absolute hardest thing I’ve had to do in life”.

The love and support she received from her family and children, and knowing she could not be absent from them, helped her through her grief. Thomas was married to retired NFL player Douglas Thomas for 14 years.

For her entire life, Thomas says she let people believe what they wanted but now at the age of 53, Thomas is ready to control her narrative. Saying she wants to be remembered for being positive and a support system for everyone. Whether it was to be a listening ear, a laugh, or a welcoming feeling, Thomas wants her legacy to be the helping hand she was always ready to lend.

Now as a single mother of two, Thomas tries to keep the traditions and memories that she made with her family and friends alive for her children. By instilling the messages she received from her grandmother and parents such as “honor thy mother and father and you will have everlasting life” and “keep God first” into her children.

She and her siblings have even morphed into the roles, once filled by their parents, aunts, and uncles by gathering on Sundays for family dinners and constantly visiting each other whenever they get the chance.

Thomas says that mirroring some of the aspects they grew up with for their children was purely accidental but she is glad it happened and hopes her children and their cousins will continue it for generations to come.

Thinking back on her life, Thomas says she wouldn’t change a thing. While she wishes those who have passed on didn’t have to go, the memories and relationships she has created are priceless. The only thing she would do is remind her younger self and others that they can have anything in life they want. Our ancestors have already paved the way for us, so now all we have to do is stay determined and reach for the stars.