Pillar Two
Thompson & Bethie
The service in this family did not begin with the Four. It began with their father, in the First World War — and with the mother who raised all four of them and then watched all four of them go.
The father
William Thompson Hanes
1891 – 1984
Thompson is the reason there is a Foundation rather than a scrapbook. The service in this family did not begin with the Four. It began with him.
He is photographed in the uniform of the First World War — campaign hat, service coat, breeches and leggings. In the center photograph of the family display sheet he stands beside Bethie with an infant on a chair between them. Aubrey Lee was born in August 1917. The Foundation has not established that the child in that photograph is Aubrey Lee, but the dates sit close enough together that the question is worth asking of someone who might still know.
He came home, and he and Bethie raised four children in Louisiana, and all four of them served. Whatever he taught them, he taught it well enough that it took four times.
He outlived Bethie by eleven years and died in the spring of 1984, at ninety‑three. Two years or so before the end, a local paper photographed him in a nursing home rhythm band, playing a harmonica ballad to raise money for the heart association. The Foundation keeps that clipping with the same care it keeps the uniforms. A man is not only his war.
The record as it stands
- Born
- March 2, 1891Documented
Grave marker
- Died
- April 24, 1984Documented
Grave marker
- Conflict
- First World WarDocumented
Family display sheet titled “World War I”, with photographs of him in period uniform
- Branch, unit, dates
- PendingPending
SF-180 request — not yet filed
- Married
- Bethi Beatrice FurrDocumented
Family display sheet
Notes on the record
“Thomas” in the newspaper caption
The clipping's caption reads “Thomas Hanes, 93.” Every other source in the family record gives Thompson. A newspaper caption is a weak source against a grave marker, and the Foundation records this as a probable misprint rather than an alternate name.
The date on the clipping
The clipping is annotated 1982 in pen, but the caption gives his age as ninety‑three, which places it in 1984. The article also refers to 1981 in the past tense. The pen annotation is likely off by a year or two. The clipping is published here with the discrepancy shown rather than a date chosen.
Open questions
- His unit, dates of service, and whether he served overseas in France.
- Whether the infant in the 1917‑1918 family photograph is Aubrey Lee.
- The exact date of the newspaper clipping.
The mother
Bethi Beatrice Furr Hanes
1896 – 1973
The family display sheet is titled “Bethie and Thompson's Four.” Her name comes first, and the Foundation has kept that order everywhere on this site.
There is no service record to request for Bethie. What she did does not generate paperwork. She raised four children in Louisiana between two world wars and then watched all four of them go, and there is no medal struck for that and no file in St. Louis that holds it.
The second mission of this Foundation is to tell the story of the Four and of their father and mother. She is half of that clause, and she is not a footnote to it.
She died six days before her seventy‑seventh birthday, in December 1973.
The record as it stands
- Born
- December 28, 1896Documented
Grave marker
- Died
- December 22, 1973Documented
Grave marker
- Married
- William Thompson HanesDocumented
Family display sheet
- Children who served
- FourDocumented
Family display sheet
Notes on the record
Bethi, Bethie, Beth
The family display sheet gives “Bethi Beatrice Furr Hanes.” Her grave marker gives “Bethie B. Hanes,” and the board's own title reads “Bethie and Thompson's Four.” The Foundation uses Bethie in running text, because that is the form her family used on the title, and records the variance here rather than silently standardizing it.
Open questions
- Her parents and the Furr family line.
- Photographs and correspondence from the war years.
- Which spelling of her given name she used herself.
From the archive
A man is not only his war.
Near the end of his life Thompson was photographed by a local paper playing harmonica in a nursing home rhythm band, raising pledges for the heart association by the hour.
The Foundation keeps this clipping with the same care it keeps the uniforms. A collection that holds only the war years describes a soldier. It does not describe a man who came home, raised four children, and was still playing ballads at ninety-three.