This week, my classmates joined together to say goodbye to a lifelong friend, Gary Thompson, since childhood fondly known to us in Lonoke as 'Bulldog'! Sometimes it makes my heart hurt to be so far away from the little town that I still hold in my heart as 'home'.
There were 17 classmates in this photo at the cemetery and several missed the photo op because they were busy visiting! We were a small class and quite a few have passed away so 20 is a big percentage.
Bulldog Thompson was one of 2 from our class to earn a PhD. His was in entomology and he went on to a distinguished career with Dow where he was a 'visionary champion of a new kind of tool before organic was even a thing' Bulldog or as I should more properly say, "Dr. Thompson" was 'incredibly well respected', 'a global leader', and received the University of Arkansas Distinguished alumni award.
I was impressed reading about all his accomplishments. Quite impressive for a man from a small town in rural Arkansas! Or for anyone for that matter! And he wasn't even one of the top students in our class but he was always very good in science.
But the reason so many from our class were there to say good-bye was not because of any of these accomplishments. The affection we hold for Bulldog can best be summarized by these words in his obituary, "He was a caring mentor, a loyal friend, dedicated family man, and and all-around good, fun guy."
When all is said and done, isn't that what we all hope will be said about us when our time comes?
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