Alan Thomas Obituary

And those were the days, so long ago. We were all new parents, dreams, hopes and little sleep in those years. Time has taken us all on such a journey. I will remember Al´s laugh and stories, there were so many stories.
Miriam, Quill and Michelle, Bruce and I send our thoughts of peace to your family at this time.

The famous 4 that called themselves "the clan" back in the good ole days of the 1970's. A memorable time at Dave & Debbie Carnahan's wedding.
left to right - Bruce Johnson, Dave Carnahan, Al Thomas, Hugh Hoffman

After meeting Al in Catholic Sunday school, eventually ending up at Downers Grove High School. Seeing each other on and off we later became good friends. Not exactly sure how all the ecards played out by the time we were juniors we had the four of us that hung out all the time. Al, Hugh, Dave and I (Bruce). Al gave us the nickname "the clan". A few years later around 18 we all went on this adventure that Al signed us up for. It was the "Explorers" an elite type of Boy Scouts as Al Said. Heck, none of us were ever boy scouts but Al signed us up anyway. Why not? Being the fine examples for the next upcoming generation of boy scouts. Heaven forbids...
As I recall it was early February, cold, having to bring extra gear. What better way to stay warm. Two fifths should do. Got there, set camp, made a fire and before we knew it, we were all tanked. Must admit, we were having a good old time. Thank goodness our camp was away from the others. Heck it was one of those nights we couldn´t even remember going to bed. Waking up in total silence being buried under 12-14 inches of wet snow. Tents collapsed, wet sleeping bags, cold. Facing the day of showing the scouts survival tactics. Come to think of it we needed it more than them. I had knot tying. The only thing I could tie was my shoes. Not sure what the other guys were doing. We all had a fun day enjoying being hung over and cold. Elvis Presley, North to Alaska seemed play over and over on some A.M. Radio. So, these high qualified Explorers were so proud passing every scout whether they did their task right or not. I know Al was proud of us seeing the Explorer group "the clan" do so well. The thing is he did not know at the time is that we passed everyone whether they did it right or not. Al always liked results being he was always an Explorer. I don´t think he never turned down a road trip. And now Al´s big journey has just begun