Paul Thomson (botanist) - Early Life

Early Life

Paul Thomson was born on June 29, 1916, in India to parents, Clinton and Bertha Mangon Thomson. His mother was a doctor who ran a local Indian hospital while his father was a minister. Tragedy struck the family when Thomson was hunting with his father when he was 11 years old. His father had shot two ducks for the family's Christmas dinner, but drowned while trying to retrieve them from a lake.

Thomson, his mother and his four younger sisters returned to the United States following his father's death. The family settled in his parents' native Nebraska, where his mother set up a medical practice. Thomson raised chickens, churned butter and grew potatoes during the Great Depression to earn money for his family. Thomson graduated from high school in 1934 and enrolled in Nebraska Wesleyan University for two years, but dropped out in 1937 due to unaffordable tuition costs. Following his departure from NWU, he briefly worked as an installer of telegraph lines for Western Union and early railroad-signal control systems in Colorado. He also worked as a wheat and turkey farmer for a short period of time.

Thomson enlisted in the United States Marines in 1938, a year after dropping out of college. He served as a chemical warfare instructor during World War II. He later ran a U.S. military sawmill to produce lumber for military operations in Korea during the Korean War. Another of his assignments in Korea was to monitor horticultural operations, which would lead to a lifelong interest in plants. The Marines stationed him at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego during the 1950s, which brought Thomson to Southern California. One of his duties in San Diego was working in the base's nursery.