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I am Gladys Kathleen Adams, the eighth and youngest child of Russell and Ruth (Van Dyke) Adams. I was born in 1934 on the family farm home eight miles northeast of Broken Bow, in Garfield Township, Custer County, Nebraska.
I attended the Senate Valley School, which was a one-room school a quarter of a mile north of our home, from the first through the forth grades. I remember that I was left handed when I started school. The teacher thought that everyone should be right handed. About the time she was trying to teach me to write with my right hand when I broke my left arm. From then on I wrote with my right hand.
Other things I remember while living in Senate Valley was helping pick lady bugs off of the potato plants and pulling up new carrots, washing the dirt off at the pipe that filled the cattle water tank and eating them. They were nice and fresh and good. When I was 6 years old our family took a trip to Oregon. There were seven of us and when I would get tired I would lay on the floor between the front and back seats and who ever was sitting in the back seat would put their feet on me while I slept. I think they enjoyed that.
In 1943 we moved from the farm in Senate Valley to a farm one mile east of Broken Bow with two houses. We lived in the small house for two years and then moved into the larger house. We thought that we had really "come up in the world" living in this big white house up on a hill. We did all the cooking on a wood stove and ate our meals in the basement until Dad was able to buy an electric stove for the kitchen.
After moving closer to Broken Bow I attended school in town. Fifth and sixth grades were in the Grade school on the south side of town and seventh through twelfth at the Jr. High and High schools on the north side. Since we were so close to town we had to walk to and from school most of the time. I didn't mind because Grandma and Grandpa Van Dyke lived in Broken Bow and I could always stop by to see them and sometimes I stayed with them. I always enjoyed going to their home.
Among the memories on this farm where: working in the garden and helping Mom can vegetables and fruit, chopping sunflowers out of the corn field, helping milk the cows, and gathering eggs. Another job was churning butter in a churn with a wooden paddle. We washed all the cloths in a wringer washer and since they didn't have cloths dryers in those days we hung all of the cloths out doors on a cloths line and then most everything had to be ironed which a lot of the time was my job.
After I graduated from High school I took a trip out to Oregon and Washington to see Wayne and Janice. I like it in Seattle and got a job working at the Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company as a long distance operator. That was in the days when we still sat at a large switch board and moved plugs back and forth to make the connections. I stayed with Janice and her family. One evening a friend and I went to a dance at the YWCA. That is where I met Alan McBride Thompson whom I married on December 6, 1953 in Portland, Oregon.
Alan was born and grew up in Portland, Oregon. After he graduated from high school he went to the Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon graduating in 1952. After that he moved to Seattle to work for the Boeing Airplane Company.
Our first child, Kenneth David, was born November 26, 1954 and our second son, Dale Alan, was born April 25, 1956.
In January, 1957 Alan's job took us to Wichita, Kansas for six months. In July we returned to Seattle and moved into a new house that Alan and his dad built. August 7, 1957 our third child, Sheri Lynn was born.
In 1967 we moved into a new home in Federal Way, Washington.
Our life was pretty quiet until 1974 when Alan was asked to go to Johannesburg, South Africa, as an advisor to the Atlas Aircraft Co., and that started a series of event that took us around the world and also gave us an international family.
We lived in South Africa for two years and then moved to Naples, Italy for 10 months. During that time we made several trips back to the United States and traveled extensively throughout South Africa and Europe.
After almost six years back on U.S. soil we packed up our belongings in 1983 and took off again. This time it was the other direction to the Island of Java, Indonesia. We lived there for four years where Alan, along with a large team of Boeing advisors, supported the Indonesian Aircraft Industry. Indonesia is a beautiful country that is covered with lush green vegetation and the climate is an ideal 75 to 80 degrees all the time, but a very poor country. Again we were able to do a lot of traveling. The places that we visited were; Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Mauritius, New Zealand, Australia and several of the other Indonesian Islands.
After returning to the U.S. in 1987 we stayed a little over two years and then moved to Melbourne, Australia in 1990 for two years where Alan had another assignment working with the Australian Aircraft Industry.
Upon returning to Federal Way we reestablished our home and lived there until Alan retired from the Boeing Co. in 1993. Since then we have been going to Apache Junction, Arizona every winter where we have established a winter home. In the summer of 2003 we sold our Federal Way home and now are traveling in a motor home during the summer.
On December 6, 2003 we celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary. Our Lord has been good to us.
Kenneth married Vacharee Poolswadi and they have two daughters: Margarita Anna and Sharon Kathleen. Margarita has three girls: Breanna Ashley, Angelica Krystyne and Ciara Elaine. Sharon has two boys: Kaven Ray Jordan and Kendrick McBride Jordan. Dale married Tamara Lyn Seward and they had seven children: Jessica Marie, Jeremy Richard, Jenell Christine, Jeffrey Alan, Julia Kathleen, Jordan Michiel and Joshua Dale. Dale and Tamara's marriage ended in divorce, and he later married Linda Marie Lake, a Lt. Commander in the US Navy. Linda's two boys, Ian Morah and Eric James Blankenbijl, also joined the family. Jenell married Ward Erickson lll. Jenell is in the US Army and Ward is in the US Navy.
Sheri married Graham Bernard Warbreck, a boy from South Africa. They have two children; Justin Graham and Paige Brittany. Justin married Rebecca Murray. Paige married Jason Charles Hemmings.