


William Penn 1963
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Donald Thompson
aka Don
Upon graduation from William Penn I decided to become an Accountant and attended Goldey Beacom. I graduated in June 1965.
Believing I knew everything about Accounting I started my career at the Delaware Hospital, which merged with two other hospitals
in 1965 to form what is now known as Christiana Health Care System. I worked part time for Sears while attending Goldey. During
my part time job for Sears I met the love of my life, Lynn Kelly (graduated from Newark in 1963). We were married in December 1966.
The next major event happened in June 1968 with the birth of our daughter Kellie Lynn. In 1970 we moved to Hollywood, Florida where
I secured a position of Comptroller for an investor owned hospital "Doctors' Hospital of Hollywood. The desire to return to Delaware
came in 1972 while we were expecting the birth of our son, Keith. We moved back in March 1972 and I went to work for St. Francis
Hospital as Accounting Manager. It was at this point I realized that I did not know everything about Accounting and knew it was a
necessity to secure a Bachelor's Degree, which I did. In 1980 the urge to become a Chief Financial Officer happened and we moved to
Danville, Kentucky and went to work for Ephraim McDowell Memorial Hospital. This was a very successful endeavor and after a scandal
(will explain at the reunion) at the hospital involving the CEO and assistant CEO I was promoted to acting CEO. What an act that was,
the position could have been permanent, but we decided to head back to Delaware to be close to family and friends and be away from
rural America. 1983 through 1995 I worked for hospitals in Vineland, N.J., Philadelphia, Pa, and Wilmington, De. Holding positions
of CFO and Controller. In 1995 Riverside Hospital was on the verge of bankruptcy when I left to go to Bayhealth Medical Center in Dover,
De. I stayed there until retirement in 2010, completing 45 years in healthcare finance. I drove over 300,000 commuting between New Castle
and Dover over the last 15 years of my career. No wonder I am tired. I have been married for 46 years, have two children and 4 grandsons
ages 9, 12, 16 and 20.
In retirement I became a cofounder of "Delaware City Ghost Hunters, Inc. to explore the world of paranormal. Will be glad to share these
stories with anyone that wants to listen. I will continue to work on my bucket list. Looking forward to meeting up with everyone
next month.
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