She was young…but we were younger.
Youth For Christ was all of ten years old when June Thompson joined the chorus. March 1, 1954 in Brantford, Ontario, Canada – the hometown of hockey icon Wayne Gretzky. It was Evon Headley who recruited her and it was Evon who invited her to join him on the major relocation to Wheaton, Illinois during the tenure of the third YFC President, Ted Engstrom.
By the early 1970s June’s noteworthy administrative skill and workload capacity had prompted the fifth President of YFC, my father, Sam Wolgemuth to wisely invite her to be a part of his support staff.
On more than one occasion, as a child, I would travel to the office with my father. He assumed that I would entertain myself while he knocked off a few urgent assignments. One of my go to entertainment options was simply standing as a ten-year-old and watching June Thompson type. Sometimes she was listening to dictation and typing at the speed of sound, literally. I was awestruck.
She was smooth. Flawless. Undistracted. Undistractible.
Candidly, I’m not sure that I ever had a conversation with her. She was busy, focused, diligent, and I was ten and squirrelly. She was elegant and I had bangs and a gap in my front teeth. She was an IBM Selectric Superstar…and I delivered the Wheaton Daily Journal.
I watched in awe as a little metal ball spun to keep pace with the fluid finger movements of this typing powerhouse; June. If IBM had a test track, this was it.
I’m quite certain that my Dad never paid her for babysitting, but he owed her. We all owe her.
For sixty-five years June Thompson has poured her love, life, and talent into Youth For Christ. She has walked with us through the deepest of water, and she has endured the foolishness, egos, personalities, and quirks of six YFC Presidents…including me.
She has done this, most predominately, because she loves Jesus and she believes that He called her to YFC. The stories of young people coming to faith in Christ because of our mission is like adding family members for her. She relishes the profound impact of the message of the Gospel across the most broken young people in the country. And make no mistake…she finds it a deeply spiritual moment when she opens a sacrificial gift from a financial partner. She glows and giggles and gasps…because at the end of the day she delights in all God has done and is doing.
Sometimes…I still stand by her desk and marvel. Sometimes…I wonder where we would be without this bright Canadian light.
She’s Ms. June at our home. She’s a family member. She’s a part of the fabric of who we are.
For sixty-five years. For her King.
On behalf of a grateful Movement…
Our one and only, June.
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