Many of you reading this will know that my sister Barbara Jane Coleman and I are both adopted children... So, why would we narrate the details of our adoption? Well it is one of the marvels of being adopted by Neil and Zorene Thompson; they did it right! Barbara and I have always been very secure with our adoptive parents and their families. This security came in part from Mother's telling and retelling of our adoption stories. The following are our own recollections and expressions of these stories. Barbara and I think all parents should tell their children how they came to be a part of their family!
- Ray Mack Thompson

"Mother, Tell Me About Being Born"
Ray Mack Thompson - December 89

"Mother, tell me about being born."

"You mean about being adopted?"

"Yes, about being adopted..."

"Well, after your daddy and I married, in 1925, we tried for a long time to have a child born to us but we were not able to do that. We knew that there were many lovely children who needed parents, and so we began to think about adopting a baby. Some friends told us of a Baptist preacher from Abilene who helped children who could be adopted to find good parents. We contacted him, and he came to our home to talk to us and to find out if we would make good parents."

"What was his name, Mother?"

"Don't you remember his name? What did he have that you liked?"

"I think it was Brother Nicholas and he had a long white beard."

"That's right! And you remember him because after you were adopted he came to see us for several years, to see how you were doing, and to make sure your mother and dad were good parents."

"Yeah.... I remember! But how did you get me to begin with?"

"Well.... when we decided that we wanted to adopt a baby, Brother Nicholas started looking and watching for us. It seemed like we had to wait a long time, but in the summer of 1930 we were just ready to leave on a vacation trip to Cloud Croft, New Mexico with some friends when Brother Nicholas called to tell us that he had several babies ready for adoption. We told him about our vacation trip and he suggested we go ahead and go, but come back through Abilene on our way home. We were very excited of course and, although the vacation was a special treat, we could hardly wait to get to Abilene!"

"Why didn't you go right away?"

"Well, I'm not sure, Ray Mack... you see, it was a very big decision to make and although we had planned to adopt, I guess we didn't think real hard about it until we knew there was a baby we could actually get and bring home. We didn't even tell any of our friends about the call from Brother Nicholas. We really needed some time to make sure we were ready to adopt a child... we talked about it a lot on our trip to Cloud Croft."

"Did I know about you and daddy?"

"No, sweetheart, you were just a baby... just a few days old! I guess you just slept through the whole thing, while I didn't sleep very much at all! Unfortunately, one of the friends in our vacation party had a call from home about a death in his family, so our vacation was cut short. This was fine with me, because by now we had decided we would adopt a baby and we wanted to go and tell my parents."

"How long did that take?"

"Well, we drove to Pecos in one day, spent the night with your Grandmother and Granddad Todd, then drove on to Abilene the next day. It did seem like it took a long time to get there, and we arrived late in the day. We found the home where the children for adoption were cared for, and Brother Nicholas was waiting for us."

"Tell about how daddy picked me out..."

"Well... everyone could see we were very excited, but very nervous. Brother Nicholas took us to the nursery where several babies were lying in their cribs. All of the nurses then left the room so we could make our decision in private. There were several girl babies, and one boy. I was looking at the girls first but your daddy stopped at the crib where this big baby boy lay. I heard him say, 'this is the one I want', and when I turned around he had picked you up and was holding you!"

"Did you want me too, mother?"

"Well, of course I did! We were both so happy we cried. All the nurses cried because we were crying, and because they were happy to that you were going to have a mother and daddy."

"Did I know it was happening? I think I can remember it!"

"No, Ray Mack, I don't think so.... remember, you were only a few days old! You have just heard me tell this story so many times you think you can remember it!"

"What happened next? Did we go home at night?"

"See! You know this story better than I do! Yes! It was unusual, but because Brother Nicholas had already visited with us several times in our home and knew that we could take care of you, we signed some of the papers in his office so we could take you home that very night! Of course, we didn't have anything prepared for you, but daddy had to get back home to his job. So, the nurses loaned us blankets, diapers, and a bottle and we were ready to go. It was after dark when we started back to Lubbock, driving our little one-seat Chevrolet roadster."

"Was I still asleep?"

"Yes, dear one, you were a good baby to take care of, right from the start... We drove nearly all night to get back home and you didn't wake up until we got nearly home. When we got to Slaton, about 20 miles from Lubbock, you began to fuss a little and your new parents had to decide what to do! We decided that you were hungry, and daddy went into a cafe to get your bottle of milk warmed. I fed you your bottle and it made me feel so good! It seemed to make you happy too and we got home just fine."

"Was I adopted THEN?"

"Yes! You were our baby boy from that day on! Brother Nicholas came to see us in a few days to complete some of the adoption papers, but you were ours for ever and ever after that!

"BOY! Am I glad!"

RMT - December '89

Brother Nicholas and the West Texas Children's Aid Society (Brother Nicholas)

The Legacy of An Adopted Child (Poem)

A Special Birthday Card from My Adopted Sister

Ray Mack Thompson (Born 1930)

I was born in Lubbock Texas in 1930, but in 1938 we moved to Pecos, Texas where I grew up on our family cotton and cantaloupe farm . (My grandfather, M.L. Todd, founded the Pecos cantaloupe industry and my family continued in the business through the 1960's.) My first hobby was ham radio; I was licensed W5OUS in 1947. I graduated from Abilene Christian College in 1951 with a BA in Agriculture and minor in Bible. I went immediately into the USAF for 4 years, where I was trained in Communications Intelligence (because I knew Morse code!) at Brooks AFB in San Antonio. I then posted to the 6910th Security Group for two wonderful years in Bavaria, southern Germany. I operated my ham station from Germany as DL4LJ. I was also badly bitten by the photo bug while in Germany, and came home with a Leica camera set and enlarger...

Upon discharge from the USAF I saw my career in electronics and deserted the family farm for a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas Tech, on the GI Bill. While at Tech I met my lovely wife Avalyn at the Texas Tech Bible Chair. I graduated in 1959 and went to work for Collins Radio Co. in Richardson, Texas as an engineering technical writer.

Avalyn and I were married the next year, in Lubbock and moved into an apartment in Dallas near the Skillman Church of Christ. We are still members at Skillman but we moved to Richardson in 1962. Avalyn obtained a masters degree in elementary education and began teaching in Richardson. In 1971 Collins Radio sold out to Rockwell International and I was promoted to Manager of Publications Engineering. I later moved into Logistics Engineering and life-cycle cost analysis, because I was fascinated by computers.

Aside from my family, church, and job, it seems that my life has been defined by my hobbies, and since this page reflects one of these hobbies, it seems appropriate to detail some of my hobby adventures...

In1974, I was the cofounder of the North-Dallas Camera Club and was fervently involved in amateur photography for a number of years. Then, the advent of ham radio 2-meter repeaters in the Metroplex drew me away from photography and back to ham radio. I became heavily involved in the Plano Amateur Radio Klub (PARK), and the north Dallas emergency communications and storm-watch network.

In 1978 I purchased one of the first Apple II computers and became one of the twelve founding members of the Apple Corps of Dallas http://www.acd.org I haven't missed many Saturdays at the monthly Apple Corps meetings since! The first two years we raised good money for the club by selling 10-minute cassette tapes for program storage, if you can believe that! Nope, we didn't have disk drives or printers those early years... Of course, ACD members bought into the Apple dream early. We all thought the Apple II was the invention of the age, that it would change the world, and would never die! However, in 1984, when the Apple Macintosh arrived, I fell for it like a ton of bricks. I served as the first chairman of the "Macintosh/Lisa SIG", and my second life as an Apple computer buff had begun. With the release of Apple's ground breaking UNIX operating system for a personal computer, OS-X (Operating System 10) for the Macintosh, I have now begun my third life as an Apple computer fan. I formed the first SIG for OS-X and now serve as the chairman. I have also enjoyed writing for our club newsletter, The AppleGram, and have chaired a number of SIG's through the years... Most importantly, I have made many good friends and had the satisfaction of introducing a lot of people to the Apple dream. I am proud to say my "converts" also include several members of my own family, church, Avalyn's school, and a long list of friends.

I retired from Rockwell in 1989 with 30 years service. With out really planning, I began a small Macintosh consulting business, Mr. Mac/K. My services include training and troubleshooting the Mac, as well as database development in my favorite program, FileMaker Pro. Avalyn retired from RISD in 1995 after 33 years of service to our community.

Since 1986 I have been the computer guru for a ministry named NewLife Behavior Ministries (NLBM) http://www.nlbm.org. Our original outreach was to those in our state prisons, but he ministry now extends to a number of foreign countries. I publish the NLB curriculum and build and maintain our databases. I have published the curriculum now in both Spanish and Russian. I also host an internet mail list for NLB workers. I am a founding member of a group of Christians exploring ways to use the internet for ministry, "On-Line Ministry for Churches of Christ"(OLM) http://www.olm.org.

In 1995 I tried one of the phone-disc CD's, trying to locate my old buddies from the USAFSS. I found a few...they knew others....and before I knew it I was publishing a newsletter for the USAFSS 6910TH 50's Group. This group has continued to grow and we now have a mail list, news letter, website, http://www.usafss6910th.org and reunions!

In 1998 I was one of the first in my city connected to the internet via a cable modem -- unbelievable speed compared to a 56K modem! I am truly an internet maven these days and I've FINALLY registered my own domain name and put up this rather feeble "home page". The picture you see of me on home page shows by current Mac, the Blue & White G3/400/DVD with an Apple 21-inch monitor and various peripherals. (To better handle OS-X, I've now added a G4/400Mhz accelerator.)

The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful partner, Avalyn, good health, and more things to do that I can get done. Life is good as we enter the 21st century...thank you Lord, for EVERYTHING!

Bye R@y (March - 2002)