Jim and Daisy Thompson celebrate 75th anniversary

The year was 1941.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was president; “Citizen Kane” starring Orson Welles was the big movie of the year; the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on the day of infamy, launching the United States into World War II. The first U.S. Army flight school for black cadets was dedicated in Tuskegee, Alabama, training those soldiers we now know as the Tuskegee Airmen. Cars cost $925, gasoline was 19 cents a gallon, a house cost $6,900, bread was 8 cents a loaf and milk 34 cents a gallon. The average salary was $2,050.

This was the year that James Thompson and Daisy Brown were united in holy matrimony.

Jim serenaded Daisy with songs like “Oh Love that Will Not Let Me Go.” He sang and talked with such a spirit that Daisy fell in love.

She thought he was as handsome as anyone she had ever seen. That love, which has endured for 75 years, was celebrated by family on their anniversary, July 15.

Five daughters were born to this union: Thedra (Floyd) Bullock, Laura Hall, Frances Thompson, Levora (Laddie) Gray and LaTonya Rish.

The Thompsons have 10 grandchildren: Dalita Bullock; James (Heather) Bullock; Stephanie Solomon; Ina (Federico) Anderson; Jamal, Yusef and Turiya Gray; and Jessica, Alstreater and Brandon Rish. They have two great-grandsons, Brandon Rish Jr. and Christian James Bullock. The Thompsons have been lifelong active members of Emmanual AME Church.