The World of Bob Thompson

Excerpt:

Bob Thompson was a man in a hurry. With a meteoric burst of energy, he embraced all that life could offer him and in return leſt the world an extraordinary assemblage of works. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, on June 26, 1937, Robert Louis Thompson was named aſter his grandmother, Robbie Shauntee, and the great boxer Joe Louis.1 His mother was a schoolteacher who, feeling the need for her children to achieve the “proper station in life” and obtain both economic and social security, instilled in them the value of an education. Encouraging her three children to go to college, she hoped that her youngest child, Bob, would become a doctor. 

There was nothing special about Thompson’s childhood, certainly nothing that would suggest the kind of future that was in store for him. He had an interest in art and was punished once because he used his mother’s window shades for canvas, but he also had interests in basketball, golf, and horseback riding. Many of his summers were spent on a farm where he enjoyed the land and the animals. His parents ran a country club in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, where he put in his share of time helping with the chores. One evening at the club, the band’s singer became ill, and young Bob, not wishing to disappoint the audience, jumped on a table and sang her whole repertoire. The audience was so delighted with his presence that he made enough money in tips that evening to buy two war bonds. 

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