Myrl William Thompson grew up on his German immigrant grandparents’ small farm in western Michigan in the 1940s. 

His time on the farm taught him to love and respect veterans and old-timers by working alongside them and listening carefully to the stories they would tell.  He learned to love all creatures, barnyard and otherwise, through the endless hours he spent playing and working among them.

A Master’s graduate of Michigan State University’s prestigious Kettering University (formerly the General Motors Institute), Mr. Thompson is an amateur author/illustrator and a retired engineer who worked in GM’s Product Engineering and Design program for 45 years. 

His first book, “Skinny Little Frog,” was written for his own children in 1972 and set on the banks of his childhood farm.  Other books followed in his old age, including his second children’s book, Santa Does the Six-Step, his humorous and poignant memoirs, entitled Climbing Memory Mountain, the funny and self-deprecating The Dating Life of Mr. Clueless, and the endearing life stories of his own Aunt Emma, entitled Emma: The Last 100 Years. 

His daughter, Juli A. Dalton, has also authored her first children’s book, entitled Farm Song.