JUNE (RATLIFF) THOMPSON

The following bio was taken from page 406 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX CoordinatorI was born and lived the first seventeen years of my life in Pike County, Mississippi, where my parents and grandparents were settled. My father and mother, William Creton and O’Tera (Spence) Ratliff, were active in their church and community, helping establish a local Baptist Church in which my father served as deacon. He also was a Mason, an Oddfellow, and a member of the school board. Mother taught Sunday school. I was in the church choir, which won many awards in state competition, and was also church pianist. It was at church that I met Richard Wayne Thompson whom I later married.

We Ratliffs moved to Waco, Texas in 1953, joining my mother’s family, who had settled there in the 1930’s, I graduated from LaVega High School in 1954, and attended Baylor University part-time (1954-1955), while working full-time. On September 17, 1956, Richard and I were married in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

In January 1957, Richard and I came to Henderson to visit Richard’s sister, Edna (Thompson) Norman, and stayed on awhile, living and working in Kilgore for about a year. We returned to East Texas in 1962, living briefly in Henderson, then Tyler, where Richard drove a truck.

Richard and I eventually bought a home in Shreveport, Louisiana, and started our family. William Ray was born December 30, 1964, and Robert Wayne, May 12, 1966.

We returned the final time to Henderson in May 1969, just after my father’s death. Richard worked for Southwest Tank as a welder. We lived in Carlisle when Benjamin David was born, November 26, 1969 in Overton, the night before Thanksgiving. We later moved to Oak Hill Community. Except for a brief period (eighteen months after Richard fell from a tank and broke his back), we have lived in Rusk County ever since. In 1979, we bought our mobile home.

William, Robert and Ben attended Gaston Elementary School. Richard was active in school and church and was a Cub Scout leader for one year. We traveled during the summers because of Richard’s job.

In 1976, we bought an acre in the Roquemore Community. The boys have attended Henderson Schools ever since. In 1975-1976, Ben suffered a (Hip) bone disease, requiring surgery, which delayed his entry into school. The boys played Little League baseball.

My sister, Mary Alice Ratliff Myers who is ten years younger than I, her husband, Jerry, and their son, Jerry, Jr., move to Henderson. Jerry worked for the City Water Department and added to their family a daughter, Barbara Sue, born in Overton, December 1976. They later moved to Waco.

When Richard and I were divorced in 1978, he went to Louisiana and later to Florida, while the boys and I remained in our home. I am employed at K-Mart, and William is also working part-time while still attending school. The boys and I enjoy a good relationship with their father’s family and with all our friends here.

Submitted by June (Ratliff) Thompson