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About Lawrence Tracy Thomson, Jr. (Tom)
Compiled From Original Scrapbook Of
Lawrence Tracy Thomson
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For some reason, there are very few photographs of Tom, the oldest son of Lawrence and Ruth Thomson. Perhaps it is because Tom pretty much keep to himself. He didn't "hang around" with Jim and David and, after getting married to Marj he and his family, two boys, Doug and Bruce, just never seemed to return home. They evetually ended up on Texas and perhaps the distance was just too great for them to visit now and then.
The only photographs of Tom are from Dad's scrapbook. I have complied most of them here so that they are all in one place. Use the menu below to look through photographs of my oldest brother, Tom.
Tom was the first born child of "Cotton" and Ruth Thomson. He was born in 1927. Jim, the 2nd son, was born in 1930 and I, David, was born in 1931. Tom was typical of 1st born, outgoing, self-assured, and a leader. Both Jim and I looked up to Tom for guidance as we grew up. But being 3-4 years older than us he tended to ignore us as he had his own crowd to "run with".
Since Jim and I were just 14 months apart in our birthdays we tended to play and do things together. That is until Jim got into Junior High School (7-8 grades). Then we drifted apart. Even before those years, during World War II, Tom never got involved with Jim and I. I certainly don't remember him playing with us probably because we were "too little".
Tom was a star basketball player at East Lansing High School in the early 1940s during World War II. He was a center as he was about 6'2", rather tall in those days. By the time I played basketball at the same school we had a center that was 6'4" and played against many other teams with taller centers.
His senior year Tom was voted the best center in the State of Michigan, an all-star. It was an honor that neither Jim or I could match. I, however, did manager to play two years of basketball at Michigan State College (now a university).
While in a high school play, Tom wore a Bowler hat in a play and got the nickname of "Decon" or "Deke". This stuck with him through high school but didn't follow him much after that.
Tom attended Michigan State College and majored in Hotel Management. He joined the Sigma Nu Fraturnity. Jim did start to join the Signa Nu "frat house" but enlisted in the Air Force. I joined the same fraturnity while I was in college from 1950-1954.
Tom worked in the food business up until about 1980s or so. He was mainly a purchasing agent or buyer and worked for the University of Michigan, Buddies Food Service, and McDonalds in Texas. He had hoped to own a McDonald one day and even attended the McDonald School which lasted about 6 months. For a reason I have forgotten he never got his own store.
Tom and Marj finally split up after his sons were grown. He and Marj were operating a framing store and gallery in Dallas which Tom kept after the divorce. Finally he moved to Acapulco where he spent the last years of his life. There he met Gloria and were married. They were living high up on a hill in Alcapula, Mexico. Gloria had been living there for quite some time and spoke Spanish fluently.
There are not a great deal of photos of Tom after he finished college, got married and had two sons. Tom died in Mexico where he retired, met a wonderful woman and re-married there. He and his wife enjoyed living in a condo overlooking the Acapulco harbor. Tom died in the early 1990s after a long illness. I never saw Tom after 1960 and never got to visit him in Mexico. Jim and his wife, Jan, however, did visit him several times before he passed away.
I do remember one time that I actually visited Tom when he was living in Dallas, TX. I believe that, at that time, he was divorcied from his wife, Marj. It must have been in the winter as he took me to his golf course to play 18 holes.
The cart was inclosed in canvas with plastic windows, and a small butane heater was attached on the "dashboard" so it stayed nice and toasty inside whereas it was windy and cold outside. So far as I remember, we were the only golfers on the course that day and, no wonder, as it was really cold.
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