68
addition to everything else wrong with the marriage,
Mac’s elopement was an automatic excommunication
from the Church to which the entire family was deeply
and sincerely dedicated. Soon Lillie was pregnant.
She sought to settle the family dysfunction by taking
religious instructions and becoming a member of the
Catholic Church. Eventually Lillie and Joseph received
the Church’s blessing on their marriage. Although their
four children were reared in the Catholic faith, Lillie
was never fully accepted by Mac’s family.
Mac did not help matters. The indolence of his
youth became alcoholism. Mac drank his way through
all of the family resources including the inheritance
Lillie brought with her to the marriage. Lillie alone
raised their four children: James McLean, III, Jack,
Charles and Margaret. Each attended a prestigious
elementary school and each was enrolled in a private
high school. One cannot help but think it was the
Thomson family money that financed the education of
the children. It was not a privilege the boys necessarily
appreciated. Jim did graduate from Chaminade. Jack
eventually finished at McBride High School. The crash
of the Stock Market was Charles’ excuse to drop out of
high school at the age of 16. He never looked back.