Rev. Bill Thompson

A third-generation native Californian, Rev. Bill grew up in Southern California before heading north to attend college. After graduating from Stanford with a degree in Chemical Engineering, he served five years in the Marine Corps as a fighter pilot.  Returning to civilian life, he spent 33 years with IBM in various marketing and engineering assignments, and got a Masters Degree in Computer Science along the way.

After retirement from IBM in 1994, this agnostic engineer/scientist found Religious Science when a friend took him to the Redondo Beach Center. "What I heard that day just made sense to me," he says of that visit. He became a regular attendee and soon began taking Science of Mind classes with Dr. Frank Richelieu. In 1998, he moved to the desert and continued his studies with Dr. Bill Taliaferro and Dr. Tom Costa, becoming a Minister of Religious Science in 2003.

When he was installed as a Staff Minister, Rev. Bill said, "Reflecting on my professional career, I realize that I have spent my entire adult life teaching in one form or another. It just seems natural that I would choose Education as my Ministry."