'The Bread Lady'

90-year-old chosen as Morrilton Citizen of the Year

By Elizabeth Sharp

LITTLE ROCK — To her family, she's a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. To her friends and fellow volunteers, she's Miss Bea. But to the rest of Morrilton, Beatrice Thompson is known simply as The Bread Lady.

Many mornings Thompson, 90, wakes up while it's still dark outside- sometimes as early as 3 a.m.- and starts making loaves of sourdough bread. Since receiving her first sourdough starter from a friend in 1990, family, friends, neighbors, church members, fellow volunteers and strangers have all tasted Thompson's homemade sourdough bread and benefited from her kindness over the years. Last month alone, she made more than 100 loaves.

Her reputation as The Bread Lady is just one small example of why Thompson was named Citizen of the Year at the MorriltonArea Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet on Nov. 3- an honor that Thompson responded to with grace and modesty.

"People say, 'Oh, you just do so much, you do more than anybody I know of,' but I don't feel that way," Thompson said. "I just like to keep busy all the time. I'm not happy if I don't have something to do." But the people who have seen her tireless efforts in the community beg to differ.

"It's always been 'Morrilton first,'" said friend Delores Hartman, 68, of Morrilton.

"She has such a community spirit, and she loves to give back." A lifelong resident of the Morrilton area, Thompson was born Oct. 14, 1918, in Sardis, about three miles east of Morrilton. Less than a month after she was born, Thompson's father, Oxley Lasater, died of influenza and pneumonia. Her mother, Josephine Bostian, married Gus Mourot, and they had 10 more children in addition

to Thompson and her older sister.

Looking back, Thompson said her

childhood on the farm was a pleasant

one. Although they didn't have many toys,

Thompson said she and her 11 siblings

found ample entertainment playing ball,

hopscotch and hide-and-seek. She said she

didn't have many charitable inclinations as

a child, but by the time she reached her

teens, she was already showing signs of

community spirit and bringing joy to oth

ers by joining the Morrilton High School

choir and pep squad.

After high school graduation, Thomp

son's sister urged her to attend Draughon's

Practical Business College in Little Rock,

where she studied typing, shorthand and

penmanship. After that, she worked for an

attorney for about three months before go

ing back to marry Leon Thompson, whomshe met while selling tickets and concessions at the Rialto Theatre in high school.

Once married, the Thompsons relocated to Oppelo to farm and start a family. It was in this small community at the foot of Petit Jean Mountain that Thompson started channeling her community spirit by joining the Extension Homemakers in 1942. Once her children were born- Gloria Rankin, 65, and Louis Thompson, 57, both of Morrilton- she started substitute teaching and volunteering with the local Parent-Teacher Association. Thompson was so eager to help that she didn't wait for her own children to be in school and often toted them along with her, Rankin said.

"I didn't start school when I was 6; I was in school from the time I was born," Rankin added, laughing.

By the time her children were in school, Thompson's community work was in full swing, and she hasn't stopped since, even when she worked for 22 1/2 years at American Management Corp.

"I've always been community minded," Thompson said. "Whenever anything came up in the community, I was in the middle of it."

After moving to Morrilton in 1958, she still served at the Methodist church in Oppelo as a Sunday school teacher as well as treasurer, a position that she held for 30 years. After her husband's death in 1981, she began attending Morrilton First Methodist Church, where she's still active - serving on the board, leading one of the United Methodist Women's circles, penning the church newsletter, sending letters to first-time visitors and, of course, baking bread for any and all church functions. She's also involved in the Literary Coterie and is the president of Conway County Extension Homemakers,a program she's been involved with for 66 years.

But these days, Thompson's favorite service activity is working with the auxiliary of St. Anthony's Medical Center in Morrilton, where she works as a greeter in the outpatient waiting room, doing "anything that I can do to be a help," she said, whether it is making coffee, helping patients check in or just offering some friendly conversation and a smile.

Hartman, the president of the St. Anthony's auxiliary, hasknown Thompson for at least 30 years and said she's an indispensable asset in the auxiliary and the community.

"I can call Bea any time, and if somebody can't fill their slot, she says, 'Oh, I can do that,'" Hartman said. "It doesn't matter if she works one day or three or four days a week, she's always happy being able to help someone else."

Her charity in the community has translated to her abilities as a mother, grandmother and greatgrandmother, too. Thompsonmaintains close relationships with both of her children as well as her grandchildren, Tammy Harrelson, 45, Jim Rankin Jr., 40, and Jennifer Thompson, 23, and stepgreat-grandson, Adam Harrison, 22.

"She never says no to anything any of us wants," Rankin said. "I mean, I've always felt secure in that I know my mother is always there for me, no matter what."

And she's still making her famous sourdough bread, driving herself around town and delivering it to housebound friends, sending it with first-time church visitors on Sundays, taking personal orders from people around town and yes, donating loaves to St. Anthony's Auxiliary bake sale, rarely charging anything. Even though she just celebrated her 90th birthday, she has no intention of letting up on her work in the community.

"I'm going to stay with it just as long as the Lord leave me able," she said. "I have scoliosis in my back, and a bad shoulder they cannot operate on, but I don't let that keep me from working. I don't have any plans to quit any time soon."

River Valley Ozark, Pages 117, 126 on 11/16/2008