William Burn Thompson

  General Notes:

As Bill's father was a master mechanic in the B.C. mining industry, Bill's family moved around frequently while he was a young boy. His elementary school education was received in one room schools, or he was home schooled by his mother. When Bill was eleven years old, and after his father's death, the family moved to Kelowna, and Bill entered a regular school system. He excelled in math and physics. He was an avid athlete, enjoying track and field, rowing skulls, soccer, skiing, and golf. Bill also loved motorcycles, and he rode his own as his mode transportation for a number of his teen years. As a young man in Kelowna, Bill always worked. He mowed lawns, pumped gas at the neighbourhood gas station, pulled lumber on the green chain at Kelowna Sawmills, fed the jack ladder in the Ollinger Sawmill in Carmi, and sold shoes at Copp's Shoe Store.

Bill has a love of all animals, especially dogs and horses. His family had a spaniel called Chummy when he was a child, and after he married, Bill had a succession of three standard poodles named Dusty, Maxwell, and Tyler. It wasn't until he was 36 years old that Bill was able to realise his equestrian desires, beginning by enrolling his daughter in riding lessons at a stable in Calgary, Alberta. He soon bought his own horse, named Summertime, a 13 year old bay thoroughbred. Then came a 3 year old, feisty, bay thoroughbred named Valerian, who, during his years of training, caused Bill to fracture his T-8 vertebra in a fall during a lesson. After a brief recovery period, Bill went right back to riding Valerian. In the ensuing years after Valerian was sold on, Bill leased a number of horses to ride at show jumping competitions, but owned his last three mounts, Tin Soldier, a 12 year old dark thoroughbred, Gester, a Dutch warmblood, which Bill kept stabled at Spruce Meadows in Calgary and was sold on to a new owner in Texas in 1998, and RJ a 17.2 hh Dutch warmblood he rode while retired in Kelowna. Bill was an avid runner and he was selected to be an escort runner for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. He ran with the Olympic Torch Relay in its travel across B.C.

For education and career, Bill holds a BSc in physics, he is a graduate of the Stanford Executive Program and a member of the Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists Associations of Alberta and British Columbia. His past positions include: for Amoco, district geophysicist; for Petro-Canada, Vice-President Provincial and Frontier Exploration and Vice-President of Business Analysis and Support Services. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Canadian Petroleum Association and was director of PanArctic Oil Ltd. and the British Columbia Division of the Canadian Petroleum Association (Chairman-1989). After retirement Bill did some consulting work with his former company and the B.C. Ministry of Energy and served as director of Dynamic Oil & Gas Inc. and Shellbridge Oil & Gas.

Following the long-planned decision to retire from the oil industry in Calgary and move "home" to Kelowna in 2001, Bill picked up old friendships from his teen years,plays golf, enjoyed riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle (which he won in a raffle 2 years earlier), and jumping his new horse RJ.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Education, 1956-1962, Kelowna, B.C., Canada. Kelowna Secondary School

• Education, 1962-1967, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. University of B.C. -- B.Sc Physics

• Education, 1985, Palo Alto, California, USA. Stanford University - Stanford Executive Program

• Employment, 1967-1974, Calgary, Alta., Canada. Amoco Canada -- Geophysicist

• Employment, 1974-1976, Houston, Texas, USA. Amoco Production Company -- District Geophysicist

• Employment, 1976-2000, Calgary, Alta., Canada. Petro-Canada -- Exploration Manager, General Manager Exploration, V.P. Exploration

• Retirement, 2001, Kelowna, B.C., Canada. Retired -- Jan 2001

William married Carol Frances Would, daughter of Joseph Norton Would and Kathleen Frances Bate, on 17 Jun 1967 in Kelowna, B.C., Canada. (Carol Frances Would was born on 30 Jul 1946 in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.)