Dr. Bill Webber remembers one particularly snowy day when his close childhood friend, the late Bill Thompson, burst into The Web’s second-story bedroom. There were a couple of feet of snow on the ground. “I’m going to give it a try,” announced Thompson, who became the legendary Wallace Sneed, host of The Wallace and Ladmo […]
J.E. Thompson Brought Indoor Plumbing to Greer, Ariz.
Locals remember the scene when J.E. Thompson first visited Greer, Arizona, on his way from New York to Phoenix. He arrived in 1919 with his clan in a Twin 6 Packard touring car, which was about the grandest thing that many residents had ever seen. He was referred to as the local millionaire. But the […]
Rancho Joaquina Needed a Facelift Before It Could be Shown to the Public
The year was 1970. The occasion was the annual Phoenix Home and Garden Show. The opportunity was to open my great grandfather J.E. Thompson’s 46-year-old Rancho Joaquina estate for public viewing. The problem: It was a mess, inside and out. In stepped the local chapter of the American Institute of Interior Designers, along with The […]