Hello,
I am a 78 year old, single, US Air Force veteran who served for 4.5 years in the fields of air traffic control and Far East military intelligence. On a daily basis, I was responsible for classified documents up to and including Top Secret. In my off duty time, I volunteered as a photojournalist for command newspapers covering editorial, feature and sports assignments for which I received several Pentagon awards for photojournalism. In 1965, I was honored with the President Lyndon B. Johnson Award for Military Photojournalism. In 1967, I was selected to be the world's only photojournalist to cover the visit of Japanese civilians and their families to their pre-war ancestral graves on Iwo Jima. In 1968, I was given an Honorable Discharge. During my service, I qualified as an Expert Marksman. I have never requested a Concealed Carry Permit in Georgia or anywhere else, but would have no problem doing so in order to protect your family and/or your property. I have a clean arrest record - not even a DUI (because I don't drink, smoke, chew or do drugs). I am a 20 year cancer survivor who was saved by Emory University Winship Cancer Center and then the Atlanta Veteran's Hospital. When I eventually pass, my body will be given to Emory University Medical School for teaching and research as they see fit. Over my career, I have mainly worked as a professional photographer - either for Ohio newspapers as an award-winning photojournalist or for my own commercial photography business. For six years I operated a commercial, wedding, thearical, and portrait photography studio in Pittsburgh. One of my main clients was a New York-based advertising agency for which I created over 1,200 television commercials in major markets such as Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Washington, DC, Chicago, and Houston. I also used motion picture and still cameras to film in steel mills, paper mills, glass smelters, and iron foundries all over the country for industrial clients such as Westinghouse, US Steel, and refractory manufacturers.
Then when the Pittsburgh economy started to sour, I moved to Atlanta at the behest of friends where I have been since 1976. My typical clients have been architects, home builders, and general contractors. I am one of the few remaining professional architectural photographers who still uses large format film cameras. (The ones you see sometimes in movies where the photographer has to put his head under a black cloth in order to compose and focus.) From time to time, I have also worked on the sets of movies either as the Director of Photography or as the Stills Photographer. In the late '70s, I helped a friend manage a small weekend restaurant in an Atlanta flea market on Piedmont Road where local celebrities such as Vanna White were regular customers. During my stint there, I baked loaves of fresh bread daily from scratch using skills I learned while reading cook books.
In the '80s, I managed three computer stores in the Atlanta area then transitioned into writing custom software. I eventually wrote a custom application for medical office management which was put into use by multiple practices all over Georgia. My software anticipated the Y2K crisis 15 years before the need so my clients never saw any issues. In the '90s, I was a software quality control tester for Harbinger Software. I also designed and built over 250 personal computers and file servers for Norcross-based Allied Data which was so successful filling federal government contracts that they were purchased by Honeywell Corporation. In the early 2000s, I designed and built custom computers for Norcross-based SpectRx Research which were used with their custom optical systems for reserch hospitals to successfully detect cervical cancer using specific wavelengths of light. Then SpectRx was purchased by Abbott Labs.
For about the past 10 years, I have been a live-in bodyguard and chauffeur for a now 85 year old widow who resides in Brookhaven. I shop for groceries, do her banking, pick up her medications from the pharmacy, prepare some meals, drive her to church or errands or to her doctor's appointments. I also do the dishes and our laundry, but for more intense cleaning a professional crew comes in every other week. She has nurses and female attendants who come in periodically to tend to her more personal female and medical needs. But, unfortunately, she is fighting a serious recurring cancer and is starting to lose her short-term memory due to a powerful chemo. If she lives through this most recent trial, I believe she soon will have to move to a more intensive long-term medical facility. Therefore, I am looking for another live-in assignment.
My interests and hobbies range from film photography to singing in my church choir as a baritone for over 25 years to gardening, and raising composting earthworms. My garden worms are also good for fishing! I am currently teaching myself to write computer software using the Python programming language on a Unix computer that I built. I have a couple ideas for inventions which I would like to patent, so am working on those as well. I don't watch much TV but when I do, I prefer to put on YouTube in order to learn more about NASA, computer programming or astrophysics.
If you have any questions or would like to get in touch, my contact information is on this website.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Terry Thomas
Atlanta
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