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Mr. Thompson, who is usually called “Tommy” even at the age of 93, had the answer for a long life together: “Marry a dietician.” *** Tommy was born in Minneapolis on December 8th, 1920, to Emery and Elizabeth Thompson. He had a sister who was two years younger. His dad was a carpenter, his mother worked at Munsingwear, and they met on a streetcar. “My dad’s life was jolly,” said Tommy. “My mother’s was not. She didn’t like my father’s partying.” In 1939, after graduating from high school, Tommy took advantage of his mechanical aptitude. Repairing typewriters and adding machines became his work for ten years including the time he was at Fort Snelling. He explained, “I was the only military man who was drafted who went to work and was assigned to do what he knew how to do. Most of these guys were taught a new skill. I repaired typewriters at Fort Snelling." *** Jeanne was born in Minneapolis on January 13th, 1923, to Merlin and Mabel Dutcher. She is the second of six children, one boy and five girls. Jeanne is the oldest girl. “My dad was a CPA and my mother was a social worker,” said Jeanne. “I know that my mother played on the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team and wore bloomers. She was born in 1899. I wouldn’t know about the hockey and the bloomers except I saw a picture! I think that’s kind of interesting. My father was very studious and intelligent, and my mother was the same.” “As children, we did more reading than playing,” she said. “Our father was responsible for that. Both of my parents were college educated at the University of Minnesota. It was expected that we would also go to college. It wasn’t a topic of discussion. My brother became an attorney.” *** When Tommy returned from the War in 1946, the young couple lived with his parents. Said Jeanne, “There was no place to rent when Tommy came home, and there wasn’t any room at my parents’ house with all those kids, that’s for sure. Since we had no place to live, Tommy rolled up his sleeves and built us a new house in St. Louis Park. He had learned carpentry work growing up. Tommy actually built our first house! I bet that doesn’t happen too often. It took six months to build. I had just graduated and was working at Fairview Hospital in Minneapolis. Somebody had to have a paying job. It was an unusual time.” “We lived in that house for nine years, until our family outgrew it,” she added. “Then we moved to Edina and then here to Smithtown. We’ve only lived in three homes all these years.” Tommy was still working with typewriters and adding machines. “Then I decided I wasn’t making much of a living,” he stated, “so I jumped out of that fire and into another fire, to vending machines. I was a good mechanic.” Tommy recognized major changes taking place in the way people communicated the printed word. “Word processors replaced typewriters and calculators replaced adding machines,” he said. “A lot of the industry changed so much.” Young people today are not familiar with the names Smith Corona or IBM Selectric, for example. Many young people don’t even know there used to be both electric typewriters and portable typewriters.
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The Victoria GAZETTE |
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June 2014 |
