UPDATE: April, 2008

I finished my doctorate. I was awarded a ThD (Doctor of Theology) on April 1. I have allowed my friends to use the term Dr. once, but at my age it is just another notch on the education belt. I don't feel any smarter. There are still so many really smart people in my circle of friends (Jerry is one example; he continues to amaze me with his inquisitive mind and the interesting "stuff" he finds on the web) that I don't make a big deal about being Dr. Tom. Some of my pastor friends have actually changed their email to drsoandso@ whatever.com :-)

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UPDATE: June, 2005

I thought that maybe I should update my profile since it has been nearly 3 years. I have completed the Master of Divinty degree and have about finished 1/2 of a Doctor of Ministry degree at Talbot School of Theology, which is part of BIOLA University.

Tom's NEW Email address: PastorTom@bizla.rr.net

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Like all the rest of you, I was very excited to find the East High Web Site. Thanks, Lee and Jerry. So far, the careers that I have seen attached to some of the names have not greatly surprised me. My career might surprise some of you. Since 1977, I have been a pastor in the Evangelical Friends Church. Who would have thought that a ruffian from the east side of Pueblo would sense the call of God into ministry?
I left Pueblo in September 1960, went to Greeley to start college, and never returned as a resident of Pueblo. Shortly after my time at what was then Colorado State Teachers College, I returned to the shoe business that I learned working at Kinney Shoes as a distributive education student. (Remember Roderick Meyers?) After several years working for "the other guy", I decided to try it on my own. I owned shoe stores in Iowa and Utah along with five in Colorado. I had two stores in Pueblo. I owned the Buster Brown Shoe Store and The Shoe Box in the Pueblo Mall (I hope that any of you who patronized the stores were satisfied). When I found retail no longer to my liking, I concentrated on the wholesale side of the footwear industry as a factory representative. At one time my wife Bonnie and I owned and operated a moccasin factory in Central City, CO.
For much of my ministry life, I have been what is called a "tentmaker minister" or "bi-vocational pastor". I worked outside the church and supported my family and the ministry as well. I have worked as a consultant in the shoe industry, and sales manager the petroleum business. My last "job" was as a sales manager for Seiko Corporation of America.
For over twenty years, I pastored in CO and NM. Four years ago, I experienced what some of you must have also experienced. I did not have the energy to do two fulltime jobs. I decided to "retire" from secular work and devote fulltime to pastoral ministry. My wife, Bonnie and I accepted a call to pastor the Evangelical Friends Church in Midway City, CA. Midway City is a small unincorporated township right in the heart of Orange County CA. Our meeting house is seven miles from the beach, Huntington Beach. The city of Huntington Beach (Surf City as the Beach Boys called it in song) is contiguous to Midway City.
I have earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies. I have six classes left to complete a Master of Divinity degree. Bonnie has a business degree, and is currently taking classes in Paralegal Studies. She and I seem to be in class all the time (either as teachers or as students).
I am an avid golfer; and one of my great joys of life was to go to Scotland and England and to play some of the courses on which they hold The British Open, particularly The Old Course at St. Andrew's and St. Anne's at Lytham. My favorite course in Scotland is Gleneagles.
Bonnie and I now live in Garden Grove.
I would love to hear from any of you and compare memories.
Blessings,
Tom Bousman