Page 56 - Senior Link Magazine Spring 2018 - Online Magazine

HONORING SENIORS
2 2
Senior Senior
ohn Chancellor “Chan”
Thomas is living an
Jextraordinary life. It started
out like many ordinary lives.
He was born in July 1952 to
Melba and Frank Thomas. He
grew up in the country, free to
roam wherever he pleased, and
learned to drive pickup trucks
and tractors as soon as he could
reach the pedals. When his
sister Inola was born in 1960,
the family moved to the town of
Tahoka.
Like many young boys, Chan
got into some mischief. He
and his friends did things like
disturbing the peace of the small
town by throwing firecrackers.
They risked their lives doing
foolish tricks, like the time they
were riding in the back of a
pickup truck, and the driver
tied off the steering wheel and
climbed into the back of the
truck with them, as the truck
continued down the road. Once,
his friends even stole a traffic
sign with his initials, JCT, for his
56 Lubbock Senior Link
The
Outstanding
John
Thomas
by Laci Thomas
birthday. He still has it hanging
in his backyard.
Chan eventually settled down as
a cotton farmer. His father Frank
rented him the only 240 acres
of land he owned. They farmed
side by side and raised cattle,
until 1985, when Frank’s health
began to deteriorate. In 1994,
Chan met and married Jamie
Marlar. He was never shy about
expressing his love for her. One
of their favorite stories is about
a time Jamie was returning from
a business trip. He picked her
up at the airport holding a blue
flower and a sunflower. He
pulled out the blue flower and their first child – a little girl
said, “When you were gone, I named Lee. It was May 1999 and
felt blue.” Then he pulled out close to Mother’s Day, so Chan
the sunflower and said, “But made it extra special by teaching
now that you are back, my Lee to say “mama”. Two years
sunshine is back.” later, they traveled back to
China to adopt their second
At this point, the story begins daughter. She was extremely
to get interesting. Chan and sick with chicken pox and
Jamie had been married for five giardia, but Chan and his wife
years, and they were ready for patiently cared for their second
children. The unusual thing is
that they went to China to get daughter and nursed her back to