"Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem."
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, A Psalm of Life

Dr. Lloyd Kay Thompson, Jr., beloved father, brother, professor, and mentor, passed from this life into eternal rest, leaving behind a legacy of scholarship, wisdom, and love on September 3, 2025.

Born in Seattle, Washington, to Lloyd Kay Thompson and Helen Sharp Thompson, his early journey carried him to Warren, Arkansas, where he was raised by his maternal grandparents, Garland Franklin and Henrietta Moman. Later settling in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he graduated from Central High School in 1962, playing basketball under the legendary Coach Eddie Sutton.

He pursued his calling in history and education with passion. He pledged Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 1966. He continued to further his education at Clark Atlanta University, where he received a Master of Arts in Modern European History in 1968, and ultimately a Ph.D. in American History from the University of North Texas in 1976.

Throughout his career, he devoted himself to historically Black colleges and universities, teaching at Southern University, Paul Quinn, and Texas College. His greatest tenure was at Wiley College (1978–2015), where he was a tenured professor and director of the Institute for International Studies. He guided countless students to graduate studies and opportunities abroad, including at the Catholic University in the Dominican Republic. His academic contributions included two Fulbright Fellowships in Brazil and South Africa. He co-authored the postscript to The Great Debaters and was featured in the History Channel documentary The Real Great Debaters of Wiley College. Lastly, he contributed to the preservation of Alonzo Jordan's collection of Jasper, Texas, photographs.

He was an avid reader, starting every morning with the local newspaper and a McDonald's coffee with "no cream or sugar" in whichever town he was in at the time. He loved poetry and traveling both domestically and abroad. He also had a deep love for music, especially jazz (Ahmad Jamal, Sonny Stitt, Wynton Marsalis, and Dinah Washington), soul, rhythm and blues, classical, and opera (Kathleen Battle).

Dr. Thompson is reunited in eternal peace with his wife, Bertha Pearl Scott; grandparents; parents; and sister, Shelia Holt Scott. He is remembered with love by his daughter, Mechell Thompson of Austin; siblings Willie Charles Holt, Connie Holt Fisher, and Phyllis Holt Jeffries (Tracey) of Tulsa; along with cherished nieces and nephews.

In moments of reflection, he often reminded others that life is more than fleeting shadows, quoting Longfellow's words with conviction. And when recalling the passage of time, he would softly echo the refrain of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven—"Nevermore."

His memory will remain a light to those he taught, inspired, and loved, echoing through generations, never forgotten.

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