BTW, does anybody know, if this highly praised (in the Annual mentioned below) rose is still around somewhere in the PNW?

Accoding to the 1922 American Rose Annual, 'Mrs. Geoge C. Thomas' was named in 1922, after having been bred by Capt. George C. Thomas, jr. in 1916 and entered into the Portland (Or.) Rose Society trials under "No. 66 H". It also seems to have been shown in the 1920 American Rose Annual, as in the 1922 edition in the figure caption of Plate XIII, which shows the same picture that you have in your entry, it is stated "... (Reprinted from the 1920 Annual, ...)".