Phi Delta Theta Fraternity

What’s been happening:

We just celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary with a month-long trip in Italy. I work full time but take 2 months for travel and 2 months at Smokey Ridge, our home and garden in western North Carolina. We will have a 1948 Phi Delt pledge class reunion at Smokey Ridge in May of 2015. We have been gardening at Smokey Ridge for the last 35 years. We have many flowering trees and shrubs, particularly rhododendrons and azaleas. We start the season with daffodils and have been planting several thousand each year for 35 years. We have the top of Raccoon Mountain and look out and down on the Smoky Mountains - very romantic. Our two companies, Thomasson Partner Associates, Inc. (TPA) and Thomasson Petroleum E&P LLC (TPEP) are joined at the hip. The former is a company that generates wildcat opportunities in the oil and gas exploration industry. It is in its 24th year. TPEP is in its 3rd year and is an operating company designed to take advantage of the prospects developed by TPA. We have a fabulous technical staff and have been very fortunate. My wife, Merrill Shields, is an attorney and very active in non-profits. Our 5 daughters are spread around the world with only one in Denver. The farthest from home lives in Bali, Indonesia. Tennis and skiing have been my major athletic pursuits over the years. Today I spend leisure time with opera and jazz. I spend other portions of my time with outside boards and foundations.