Updates from Gary Thompson

Where have the years gone! Looking back at the newsletters, the last issue we did was May, 1995. Has it really have been over seven years? I didn't really plan to stop putting out the newsletter, they just started getting farther and farther apart until before I knew it, the seven years have come and gone.

I still feel the same about the Thompson Family, I think they are about the greatest bunch of people I know and I am proud to be a member of this family. I guess the anxieties of life, making a living and raising a family crowded out the newsletter even though it was something that gave me a lot of joy. I know everyone else felt the same so I am glad to announce that with the advances in technology (Internet, email, etc) we are back and feel confident that we will be able to keep it going. We will need help and know everyone will respond the same as with the first newsletters. Send us your news, your good memories of the past and family recipes. We will be looking at new features to add, so send me any ideas you have for making the newsletter better.

One of the problems we ran into with the original newsletters was mailing them out to everyone. Postage, envelopes and ink was expensive and it would take most of a day for us to put everything together. This time we plan on having an online version only so it will make it a lot easier for us. This puts the responsibility of getting a copy to family members without computers upon people that do. If you don't have a way of getting the newsletter, please let me know and we will mail you a copy. Another thing we are asking everyone to do is send us everything in electronic form so it doesn't have to be typed. For those without a computer, please ask a relative with a computer and Internet access to type it for you and email it to us. If this is not possible, go ahead and send it to us and we will make sure it gets in the newsletter. Our goal is to make this as easy as possible so we can continue get the family news out.

We will be putting the newsletters on the thompsontribute.com as Adobe Acrobat files so they can be read online or downloaded so you can print them. If anyone has any trouble doing this, please let us know so we can get you the help you need. Also, if anyone would prefer to have the newsletter in Microsoft Word format we can put that on the web site too.

A new feature to the newsletter that we are working on is the Thompson Family Tree. There is a link to another site that has our family tree on it so I hope everyone will enjoy that and let us know of any mistakes they find so we can keep it updated. I have found several family members that I did not know during the
collection of the information for the family tree.

They are on my email list so I am hoping they will introduce themselves to the rest of the family through the newsletter, giving us their family news and keeping us updated on what they are doing.

I would like to thank everyone who has helped me gather the information on our family tree. This has been a huge task and I could never have gotten this far without this help. It reminds of one of my favorite sayings that is applied far to often in today's society: It is amazing what you can accomplish when no one cares who gets the credit.

Well, I guess it's time to close for now but I am looking forward to hearing from you, send us your news!

-Gary Thompson

Obituary:

Harold Hugh Thompson
June 6, 1922 - April 11, 2002

The family will be doing a video tribute
dedicated to Hugh Thompson. We look
forward to everyone sending us fond
memories they have of him for the next newsletter.
 

Birth Announcement:


Caitlin Renee Blackburn
7 lbs. 9 oz. and 19" long
born June 9th, 2002 to

David, Tammy & Colin Blackburn
(daughter of Paul and Carol Leffew)
(daughter of Jr. and Madge Thompson)
 

Updates from Laurel Thompson

The last newsletter we sent out was May 1995. Our life has changed a lot since then. Probably the biggest news that we had was the arrival of Iris Marie Thompson on April 19, 1996. We were as surprised as everybody else that we were having another baby. We are definitely too old to be parents of such an energetic child. Iris was a character right from the start, maybe because of who she was named after. She isn't afraid of anything. When she was a baby, Gary could get her to laugh by scaring her. Iris has a very vivid imagination. She was given an award in her kindergarten class this year for her "creative imagination". Iris is so creative she convinces herself that her fantasies are real. Her latest fascination is with Spiderman or as she calls him, Peter Parker. She is convinced that he is real and lives in Ketchikan, Alaska. And she will tell this to anyone who is willing to listen or is unwilling but happens to be within earshot of her.

We spent from August 2001 to January 2002 in West Virginia. This served a twofold purpose. First, Iris was a flower girl in her cousin Cara Koontz's wedding to Brian Gatto. Iris had a dress that was an exact replica of the bride's and her escort, Jesse Stonecipher was a perfect little gentleman in his tux. They stole the show, sometimes even upstaging the bride and groom, but Brian and Cara didn't seem to mind. The second reason for spending so much time in West Virginia was so that we could spend some time with Hugh. Iris got to know her Grandpa and we were privileged to be a part of his life for a while.

Since we were in West Virginia when Iris was to start kindergarten, she went to school at Volga Century Elementary School. They didn't have room for her in Philippi. After the first day, Iris came home with a West Virginia accent. Gary said to her, "You are just a regular little hillbilly, aren't you?" She replied indignantly, "Daddy, ah ain't no hillbilly!" The second day that Iris went to school, she didn't get off the bus at 4:30. She was required to change buses in Philippi. The school system assured all the anxious kindergarten parents that there was no chance of a mix-up. The teachers watched out for the new students. They even put the bus number on their hands so they wouldn't get on the wrong bus. Unfortunately, they put the wrong number on her hand. When Bus 92 came to the end of his run, there was still a little girl named Iris on his bus. He asked where she lived but she didn't know. She knew her Grandma's name was Mavis Thompson but the phone was listed under Hugh's name. The school eventually connected the frantic parents who were calling with the extra child they had. We met her at the bus garage as she pulled in on Bus 92. She came bounding off the bus, all smiles. Iris thought the whole thing was a big adventure. It was a good thing, too, because her Daddy was ready to punch somebody if she had been scared and crying. The third day of school, when the buses changed at Philippi in the morning, Iris went into the Philippi school and ate breakfast with the other students. When the bell rang for classes, there was no classroom for her to go to so they discovered that she was supposed to be at Volga Century. The principal from Volga had to come down and drive her to school. They got to be quite good friends on the drive there. We never inquired to know in detail what she told him. We thought that maybe we were better off not knowing.

As you can see, life with Iris is just one exciting day after another. Her brother Seth and sister Bethany love her to pieces. Of course, she drives them up the wall sometimes with her constant chatter. But, they have been a big part of her life from the very beginning. Bethany was even there when she was born. (Her Dad was too busy taking video to be of much use to me in the delivery room.)

Our life has also changed in other ways. After 22 years of living in Cordova, Alaska we moved to Craig, Alaska in November of 2000. You would think that after 22 years of living in an isolated fishing village of 2500 people where the rainfall is 168 inches a year that we would move to a less remote, sunnier place. Of course not!! Craig has about 2500 people too but it is located on Prince of Wales Island 15 miles across the way from Ketchikan, Alaska, the only place in Alaska that has more rain than Cordova. But, we love it here!

We have made so many good friends and the 1200 miles of road on the island has given us plenty to explore. Gary went to work for a different phone company, Alaska Power & Telephone, as the telephone manager on the island. He really likes working for them. They even allowed him to work while he was in West Virginia so that he got paid while we were down there.

Gary also manages the telephone company in a town called Metlakatla that is an Indian reservation on Annette Island south of Prince of Wales. A P & T has a house over there for the manager to stay in when he is working there, so the whole family goes over for about a week every month. They are the friendliest people imaginable. We love going over there. Iris made a friend of the little girl Alexis that lives next door so they are inseparable while we are in town. Metlakatla is a sovereign nation so they have their own laws and government. They are still part of the United States and choose to conform to federal law in order to benefit from being part of the U.S. The mayor is like the president. Anyone who visits is required to see the mayor when they arrive in town and get a visitor's pass. Since we live over there part of the time, we get a card that gives us resident status and Gary has a green card so he can work.

Seth moved to Prince of Wales at the same time as we did. He has his own apartment just around the corner from the house we are renting. Seth enjoys writing so he is trying his hand at writing science fiction novels that are based on the games that are played on the Internet. There is a huge market for books like that for teenage boys. The ones I have looked at are well written and instantly absorbing. We hope that Seth can succeed in disciplining himself to be a writer because he certainly has the talent for it. Even though he has his own place, he is still a frequent visitor to our house, especially at dinner time. Actually, we told him he could come over anytime he wanted for dinner because we know he would probably never bother to eat otherwise.

When we moved to Prince of Wales, Bethany was living in Anchorage. Shortly after the move, she moved to Lake Tahoe, California to work for Delta Airlines and go to school. Bethany was taking courses in graphic design. After a semester of college, she discovered that she already knew what they were teaching her. She was showing the teacher how to use Quark Express and the college paid her to design the course schedule brochure for the college. Since Bethany planned to operate her own business, she decided to get started instead of paying for four years of instruction that she didn't need. Bethany moved to Prince of Wales with us in January of 2002. Since then, she has been busy working illustrating a book for an educational writer in Georgia. The project was finished at the end of May. She is now in the process of illustrating five more books for the same writer. This educational method is going to be used in the State of Georgia school system to teach children to read. Bethany is also working locally here on the Island. She is doing the graphic design for the Prince of Wales Visitors Guide for next year. Of course, since she is staying with us until she gets well established, her father gets her to do some work for him too. Bethany is responsible for a lot of the work on the family tree and the family website.

I have been taking advantage of the time I have while Iris is in school to start writing again. Bethany and I finished the book of poetry we were working on together. I have a couple of other projects in the works and hope to get them finished once Iris starts school in the fall. Gary bought me a new sewing machine out of the proceeds of the sale of our house in Cordova. I have been working on picture quilts with pictures of Prince of Wales Island as squares interspersed with Alaskan fabric. I did a quilt of Cordova before we left there. I plan on doing one of Metlakatla next. Maybe I will plan to do one of West Virginia after that. The only trouble would be to pick out the pictures to use. There are so many beautiful places in West Virginia that the quilt would have to be too big to get them all in.

We were all saddened by the death of Gary's Dad, Hugh Thompson, on April 11, 2002. It has been good therapy for Gary to work on the family tree and website so that we can keep in touch with the rest of the family. Life is so short and family is so important. We are looking forward to Mavis' visit to Alaska in August. She couldn't do much traveling in the last few years. We hope that a change of scenery for a little while will help ease the pain of loss that she has been feeling.

I have been typing in the old family newsletters for Gary to put on the website. It has gotten me excited about doing the newsletter again. Our life in Cordova was so hectic for a few years that we couldn't do it. Now our life is slower and we have time for the more important things. I hope that the whole family will get involved in sharing their lives with us. Everyone was really getting into it before so we hope we can revive that Thompson spirit. Next month we will be doing a memorial issue for Hugh Thompson. Send us any stories or memories you might have about Hugh. Several members of the family are working on tributes to him so it should be a special issue.

-Laurel Thompson

Updates from Bethany Thompson

In May of 2001 I moved from my hometown of Cordova, Alaska to Anchorage, Alaska. I started out managing a B&B in Anchorage. I got that job because I had worked for the owner as a bus tour guide in Cordova.

In October of 2001 I also began working for Delta Airlines as a ticket agent in Anchorage. I loved being able to hop on a plane to anywhere for free. One of my common destinations was Lake Tahoe, California. Every time I went back I found it harder and harder to go back to Anchorage. Lake Tahoe was so beautiful and sunny every day! The snowboarding was the best I had ever experienced. I requested to transfer to Reno, Nevada with Delta but they told me I had to wait for at least six months.

In March, the time came for the company to let some employees go because of cutbacks. Being the last hired agent, I was let go. I saw it as my opportunity to go to Tahoe for a while. I moved in two weeks and arrived in CA at the end of March. I got a job with Delta in Reno, Nevada. I had to
commute for one hour each day. The shift schedule I had was from 5:30am to 1:30pm, five days a week. It became increasingly hard on me to get up at 3:30 and drive for an hour in the dark. My car didn't have air conditioning and the temperature in Reno was usually about 90 degrees when I got in my car at 1:30 in the afternoon. I injured my back one day checking in a bunch of bags from a group going to a bowling tournament. I decided to resign.

My plans had changed at that point because I had my eye set on going to college at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, Nevada. After many letters, applications and paperwork, I was given a full scholarship to the school. My major was Fine Arts with a concentration in Digital Arts. I loved going to most of my classes, especially Graphic Design and Video Production. I finished the fall semester with a 3.18 GPA.

I decided to leave Lake Tahoe in December when I realized I didn't need to keep going to school to have what I really wanted. I was sad to leave the area, but it was the best thing for me to do. I've always wanted to have my own business and work for myself. My classes at Sierra Nevada weren't teaching me too much more than I already knew about Digital Arts. I just kept wondering, why do I need to spend four years getting a degree, when I will eventually want to run my own business?

I moved to Craig, Alaska on Prince of Wales Island in January of this year. I have successfully started my own business, Picture Perfect Productions. I plan on staying here in Craig, Alaska for a while until I save up enough money to buy a good car. After that, I don't know exactly where I will go. Knowing me, I will probably end up where it's sunny all the time and the snowboarding is good.

-Bethany Thompson

Recipe: Sesame Chicken With Broccoli
 

Ingredients:

1 cup chicken breast; skinned boned & cut into
1 cup chicken seasoning
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ginger root; minced
2 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup onion; chopped
5 tablespoon orange juice; concentrate
1/4 cup water
1 lb broccoli; coarsely chopped
1 lemon

Combine all ingredients except broccoli and lemon in bowl, cover and marinated for at least 30 minutes. Heat wok or skillet over medium heat heat. Stir-fry chicken mixture and  broccoli for 15 minutes or until broccoli is just tender. Do not overcook.

Poetry: Eyak Lake
by Laurel Thompson

How many pictures would it take
To capture the moods of Eyak Lake?
Sometimes blue, sometimes green,
Always prettiest at the time it's seen.

In summertime the skies of blue
Are reflected in the water's hue.
Gentle breezes and long daylight's glimmer
Cause the water's silvery shimmer.

Then autumn winds and pelting rain
Urge the southward flight of geese again.
The wind-tossed waves into whitecaps churn
As the logs on cozy fires burn.

Soon ice covers the waters deep
For a long and peaceful winter's sleep.
The mountains behind in winter white
Present a most majestic sight.

Then the temperatures rise again
And the snow and ice start getting thin.
The coming of the warm days bring
Break-up of ice and then it's spring.

How many pictures would I have to show
To convey the Eyak I've come to know.
No number of pictures could truly portray
It's ever-changing moods of every day.