Erwin and Ruth Thompson snuggle up on a past wedding anniversary Second Love by Erwin A. Thompson For the second anniversary of Ruth’s death, May 1, 2006 My first love was like a pansy, brought too soon from the greenhouse’ sheltering glass. A late frost took its vicious toll. That love was never meant to…
My father while going through 100s of hours of recorded music tapes (one of his projects this winter is re-recording), he got fed up with all the “cheating” songs. He thought he would put in his version. He stayed up until Midnight writing it and this note that goes along with it. —JGR Erwin A….
Pop gets up a little later now at 92. He’s earned it, as I see it. “I feel like Aunt Mim. She told me, ‘Erwin, it takes me an hour to get out of bed.’ My this and my that aches. I’m getting to be an old man, and I don’t like it.” “True. It’s…
“Going the second mile” was a catch-phrase in our family, and comes from the Bible, Matthew 5:4 41 “Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.” [A Roman official could require any subject of the Roman empire to bear a burden, or carry a load for one mile.] “Going the second mile”…
Janet Grace Riehl and Erwin A. Thompson, father-daughter writing team TREASURE CHEST by Janet Grace Riehl from “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary” He labors in the grove of service. Remembers flat tires, repaired. Loans proffered for crises. Then his somber face glows with the light of a thousand-watt angel. Memories of good turns returned is a…
To read my father’s poem “Night Patrol” click here to access the Riehlife March 18th 2007 entry. To see Erwin A. Thompson tellling this story of bravery in action…matter of factly and with gentle humor…go to www.thetelegraph.com. Tip: To avoid problems in streaming this video, you may wish to press the pause button on the…
“Even with his body ravaged by shrapnel, Erwin Thompson managed to drag one of his men back to safety. He didn’t know it, but th man was about to return the favor. “Thompson, now 92 and living in Jersey County, remembers a time during World War II when he was put in charge of a…
My father loves womankind, and he is kindness itself to women. At 92 his current hobby is shepherding a family of adopted daughters through their tearful life moments…in extremely practical and tangible ways at times…in poetic ways at other times as in the poem we share with you today. This adopted daughter is my father’s…
In 1936, when my father was 21, he wrote a song for Sherman Bowen’s younger sister, Lucille, that came to be titled “The Girl in the Little Blue Hat.” Lucille was sixteen when he composed the song, but had been perhaps eight-years-old when my father started dancing square dances with her at Ben Hill’s dances…
If you like blog carnivals, you’ll love visiting Isabella Mori’s “Change Therapy” site where she’s serving the appetizers for a progressive dinnerparty-style Soup to Nuts blog carnival. One of my blog postings on my father’s longevity and youthful outlook secrets is one of the appetizer dishes she is serving up. I think you’ll find this…