Jean Young Thompson

Jean Young Thompson was born in Ft. Worth, Texas, on May 14, 1924. She grew up on the campus of Texas Tech University, where her mother, Elizabeth Hunter Young, was the first dorm mother. She majored in foreign language and married James Neal Thompson, a design engineer, who served as a transport pilot and flight instructor in China during WW II. After his death in 1969, Jean completed a Master's degree in Library Science at OU. As a media specialist in children's literature in the Oklahoma City Public School system for 20 years, she served on the state's Sequoyah Award committee. She also volunteered with the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Library System book sale, one of the largest in the country. She was preceded in death by her son Mike, who worked for the Social Security Commission but was killed in the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Building, and by her son Toby. Toby's widow, Margaret "Peg" Malloy, continues to be a strong supporter of the family. Her surviving children, Lisa and James, Jr., are teachers and follow their Mother's lead in promoting education.